


Through the eyes of an assassin

by wuolong77



Category: RWBY
Genre: Drama, Gen, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2018-07-10 22:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 53,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7010386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wuolong77/pseuds/wuolong77
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>RWBY told from the perspective of Lie Ren. But considering his small impact until the end of season 3 this is just an excuse to tell my own story about the world of Remnant. Slightly AU until the end of Volume 3. After that, all bets are off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The acceptance letter

**Author's Note:**

> Through the eyes of an assassin - a RWBY fanfiction
> 
> A/N: RWBY is the intellectual property of Rooster Teeth and all rights belong to them or something like that. I guarantee that no profit is made from publishing this story.

Terminating that contract felt like chains slipping from my neck. Not the heavy ones mind you, but the thin versions. Easy to conceal, very likely to slip your mind when you are not looking, until the moment they were used to garrote you to death, eating into your flesh until you started to bleed around your throat…

She would probably call me morbid, but she was not the one managing our very limited funds and when half of our expenditures went into rent and almost the other half into buying food to feed that black hole that was inside her stomach - well, there was not a whole lot else left, was there?

Getting the acceptance letter from Beacon Academy was a live saver. As a publicly funded boarding school our need for food and shelter was being accounted for and then there were Grimm bounties. It would have to wait until our second or third year, but nevertheless – a secure roof over our head, the future prospect of earning good, clean money and all that behind the protection of new assumed identities.

I looked for the third time over the flat contract and for the briefest moment my sight lingered on the name that I will soon discard. A quick brush of my hand produced the last signature of my old identity, finalizing the conditions for termination. Due to us spontaneously moving, we would have to pay the rent for another three month and some of the flat-deposit will be withheld from us to repair the damage that our living quarters had sustained. Nothing unexpected really. I was living alongside a taifun in human form after all.

I shook hands with the kindly landlady feeling very stiff while doing so. Even after all these years in Vacuo there were still some customs I could not get used to. The ingrained reflex of bowing sat deep inside me waiting for the slightest crack in my attention to slip out.

I exchanged some further pleasantries with the landlady Mrs Auburn. We then settled for a date on Tuesday next week when I had to return the flat keys. We still had some days left in these rooms until moving to Beacon, but I insisted on getting the paperwork done beforehand.

Never underestimate paperwork. Getting sloppy around it will just lead it to bite you in the rear at the most inopportune moment possible.

I went into my room and took out a metallic briefcase from below my bed. The thought of paperwork reminded me of another errand that I had to finish. I took out my scroll, set the line on heavy encryption and dialed a particular number from memory.

"Yes?", answered a squeaky voice. "This is Lie Ren." I decided to use my new identity to introduce myself. Fitting, considering that the man on the other side was the one who forged it.

He paused for a second to process my words. Or perhaps the signal was delayed through the encryption process. "Ah, Mr Lie, my latest customer. Sorry, I haven't expected you to adapt so quickly."

I did not bother to humor his attempt at small talk. "Do you have the other papers?"

Another pause. "Yes, just finished them today after pulling an all-nighter. Your timing is quite impeccable."

"So I've been told. Meeting at the abandoned industrial dust facility at 8 p.m.?

And another delay. Its definitely the encryption. "How merciful of you to allow me some time to catch up on my sleep. I take it that you have the rest of the money?"

"Would I bother to waste both of our times otherwise?"

"Of course you won't." The man heaved a sigh that sounded all but fake. "Really boy, you should brush up on your conversation skills. If you are always so no-nonsense, you won't be popular with the ladies." He makes a dramatic pause. "On the other hand, you are already stringing a girl along, aren't you?"

Emotions flared inside of me, too fast and too complex to analyze. Heat rose to my cheeks and I was ready to raise my voice in what felt like a very long time, but my verbal indignation got violently cut when the line disconnected.

I cursed under my breath. Little sneaky rat, pushing the one button that can actually get me worked up. Knowledge of that kind was very crucial when bargaining.

I left the bedroom and went into the kitchen. There were still five hours left until the designated time. I could as well use them to do something productive.

"I aaaaam back hoooome."

I watched up from the stove as that boundless ball of energy with orange hair broke into the flat exuding vitality and vibrancy with every movement she took. I could not help but smile a little.

"Ooooh, that smells awesome", she cooed. "Really the right way to end a totally awesome day at work on a high note. So how long until you're done? How long until you're done?"

"About ten minutes", I clipped.

"My stomach is growling."

Isn't it always?

"No matter. I can endure ten minutes if its to eat your food. So what are you preparing?"

I raised the two woks from the stove, shaking them in each hand, letting their contents shoot in the air in a tight arc and catching them again without a single piece of rice falling to the floor. I was quite proud of my little circus act. It also had the added benefit of stirring up the ingredients without using a spoon or spatula, which in turn had the added benefit that damage to the ingredients through tool-assisted stirring was negated. When cooking rice it was important to preserve their form. Amateurs in the kitchen always thought that it was all about taste and smell, but haptic qualities or mouth-feeling is almost as important and the particular charm of flavored rice was how each and every corn has the potential to be a small potent carrier of taste – as long as you preserve their structural integrity by not crushing them into mush during the stirring process.

I should stop and yes, I was a little bit of a cooking enthusiast.

"Oooh, its stir-fried rice and two different kinds to boot." She laughed. "Didn't you say the other day that you want to stop spoiling me?"

She was right. I did say that.

"You are not making good on your promise, you know? Oh, I am not complaining about you not keeping your promise not to spoil me. Feel free to continue to disregard your own promise, please,"

Too late, now that you have reminded me so kindly.

"...and as I already said, my day at work was totally awesome, though whether it is as awesome as your food is something I have to decide after I tasted everything you have cooked..."

More like gobbled up everything into that bottomless pit of yours.

"... and is that stew you are preparing?"

"Beef stew szechuan-style and steamed dumplings with chiitake and fried egg filling."

"You are sooo spoiling me."

Which will stop effectively tomorrow. "There is something to celebrate."

She perks up. "Really?"

"We got our acceptance letters for Beacon."

For the first time since she barged into the room, her big, ever-present smile disappeared.

"We have to move again?"

"Yes."

"And we have to play the name-changing game again?"

"Yes"

"And I will have to leave my friends here behind?"

I hesitated, but only for a second.

"Yes."

Her face adopted a somehow wistful expression. It was an expression so unfamiliar that it almost changed her face into that of stranger.

A very pretty stranger.

I turned off the stove. The residual heat should cook up the dishes just fine.

"You know, aside from living in the wilderness at the northern borders of Vacuo, this is the first time we have stayed in one place for so long."

And it was the first time we stayed so long at a place with genuine human contact. Two years were long enough to be assimilated into social circles, long enough to create human bonds that mattered.

"So, what will be my new name?"

I procured her forged ID from my right sleeve. She took it with uncharacteristic hesitance.

"Nora Valkyrie." She smiled sadly. "Quite a nice name. I think I will get used to it very quickly. It is after all, what? The fourth time?"

"Yes."

"Saphiria at the smithy will be devastated when I have to leave so suddenly. She has really started to depend on me and Garnet is so nosy. I will have to think up a good excuse." She laughs without mirth. "You know Sh..., sorry, what is your new name?"

"Lie Ren." Saying it to her face left a strange aftertaste.

"That name is also pretty. Do you think them up yourself?"

"No."

"Still... Ren, you are really amazing."

I blinked. "Aren't you upset?"

"Of course I am, but I am not really mad at you. Way back then, we agreed that you would make the decisions that mattered, because I really was nothing more but a brat, and over the years we kinda turned it into... how do you call it again? Right! Division of labor. I do the heavy lifting and the loud socializing while you do the subtle and silent stuff."

A very accurate description of our current partnership. I nodded in acknowledgment.

"Sometimes when I talk to young customers at the smithy, people my age who attend combat schools, I ask them about the stuff that is often cluttered on your desk. Financial reports, health insurance, all these contracts and tax forms, but most of the time they just stare at me blankly. Some of them recognize these things, but they always say that their parents take care of those, but we don't have this luxury."

"I am five years older than you. It's appropriate that I do the adult stuff."

"And how long have you been an adult for my sake?"

We both knew the answer to that question, but the intensity behind her words forced me to say it aloud: "Since I was fourteen."

Her expression turned wistful again. "You are amazing. I mean, you manage all these adult matters without ever tiring or complaining and suddenly you turn up these." She held up her forged ID. "I am sure that most adults don't have a clue how to get something like that, but you... you do it without making any fuss at all, like a magician pulling rabbits out of his hat. I honestly thought that you were half joking, when you said that we should attend Beacon together. And you never joke. I mean, it really is a very good place for us to be, but we never went to any secondary combat schools at all, or any schools period and all the public records about us are fake and you were also against taking the special combat entrance exam because you did not think you could make the cut without revealing your special techniques, though you did offer that I should just take it myself, but I am not leaving you behind period, so I thought it was just a pipe dream."

She breathed deeply after having spoken so much without pause. "How many documents did you have to forge this time?"

"A lot." I did not mention that forging these documents also involved creating fake digital records in public security and combat school databases. This was Beacon after all and I was ready to take as many precautions as possible. Even in case that our documents were to be scrutinized there would be digital files ready to back up our papers. The only way our fake identities could be unraveled was if someone would take the pain of tracking our records through talking to actual persons who at least according to our documents should know about us. But if the directory in Beacon saw it fit to dig this deep we were screwed anyway.

"And the money?"

That's the first time she was this inquisitive about my shadier activities. "Don't worry about it. It has been dealt with."

"I see." She sat down at the table, still in a pensive mood. Did she forget about the food?

"While in Beacon, will you cook for me from time to time?"

Scratch that. "Perhaps."

She grinned and the familiar glow of childish glee and mischief returned to her face . "Admit it. You are totally glad that you don't have to cook for me anymore."

"There will be other priorities."

"Ha, I know what my priority is right now, Ren. Sampling every little piece of your food."

It took her about fifteen minutes to eat through everything. All in all, I prepared an amount of fried rice with vegetables and meat that could fill a wok to the brim three times. Add to that a big pot of beef and potato stew as well as dumplings and one got the picture.

I stopped wondering about conservation of mass and silly things like that a long time ago. Physically it should be impossible for her stomach area to remain as flat as a board. Not after stuffing in this kind of sheer mass.

A Black hole perhaps? Or what about some kind of pocket dimension located inside her gastrointestinal system? Nothing but hypotheses. Confirming them would require me to open her up with very sharp implements. Luckily, my scientific curiosity was far too undeveloped to drive me into suicidal acts. She was after all much stronger than me and her qi reserves outstripped my own by a factor of three or four.

Honestly, I gave up on dotting down exact measurements of her qi pool about two years ago. The fluctuations since then became far too violent, though the upward trend was unmistakable. Her qi potential was increasing steadily, long after her body had begun the development of secondary sexual characteristics, commonly referred to as puberty.

It threw out every established rule of endogenous qi development in human beings right out of the window. Well, there was a reason they were still after us which in turn justified my paranoia.

But the line between caution and paranoia was a thin one; not that it had stopped me from performing back flips and somersaults on that very line for eight years.

I finished cleaning the dishes. She..., well I should think of her as Nora now, shouldn't I? Nora went to her own room, told me something about taking a nap to help her digest the food.

I did not bought it for even one second. Nora Valkyrie's digestive system was never in need of any kind of help that the rest of us petty humans would require. She probably needed some time alone to... dare I say reflect? Mourn? I had a nagging suspicion that the move this time would be tricky, but now I felt like an insensitive jerk for not thinking about her feelings.

I wiped my hands dry and went into my room to take the metal briefcase. 30000 Rand. A sum that could be earned by a middle class worker in about a year. Illegal money. The other half of the payment to buy us a shot at leading a truly respectable life.

It won't be a safe one. Dying in the line of duty was an occupational hazard for Hunters, but both of us were used to danger. It was a much hated friend by now. I left our flat with focused and hurried steps.

The southern part of Vacuo could be considered a sprawl. A giant, blistering, growing network of dilapidated buildings, eroding infrastructure and houses which mainly consisted of glue that barely held them together. There were also broken cars, buses and bulkhead vehicles that had long ceased moving and were retrofitted into barely hospitable living quarters. The energy network did not reach here, nor did any kind of public sanitation system. Even the sewers had been cut off, while desertification reared its ugly head from the south.

It was a place abandoned by human civilization, so it became a sanctuary for the outcast and the lawless.

Black markets, gambling and drug dens, religious sects, rumors even whispered about hidden headquarters of paramilitary faunus groups, among them the notorious White Fang.

I had not noticed any White Fang quarters yet, but most people living here were faunus, a testament to the days before the sprawl when this part of Vacuo was nothing more but a ghetto - a walled off suburb of sorts or an animal-pen depending on who you asked, erected to keep the faunus population away from the public eye and to inflict living conditions on them that were only fit for caged and mistreated animals.

I was not surprised they fought back. Violently at that.

But while I understood the plight of faunus right activists, I was far from being a sympathizer. It had nothing to do with faunus or humans. Personally, I thought the distinction to be a ridiculous one. There were some anatomical differences, but if one looked closer at qi development, fauni and humans were pretty much interchangeable. Besides, both so called races were able to have kids together who in turn were able to further procreate with either a human or a faunus, so even biologically speaking there could not be that big of a difference between us and them.

This in turn also meant that there were individuals amongst both humans or fauni who were never to be trusted, because due to their unsavory characters you could never know when they decided to screw you over.

Like the ratty guy who was counting my money. His name was Fidelius and when I say ratty I mean it literally.

"Now, now, Mr... Lie. This looks very satisfactory. So much money in such a short time. I do wonder how you procured this kind of sum on the mere salary of an assistant librarian?"

"I paid you for your services and part of your portfolio includes that you do not ask questions. Or did I misread the fine print?"

Fidelius shrugged his shoulders. "Written contracts are worth nothing in this place. They are a product of so called civilized society. I am also a very curious man by nature. "

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"But I am far from being one", said Fidelius. He laughed boastfully displaying a confidence he lacked in our previous meetings. But having two bodyguards accompanying you tended to raise confidence – and recklessness.

Both of them looked like typical hired muscle. Broad chests and shoulders, arms as thick as my thigh and absolutely crude qi refinement. Their breathing patterns were a mess, barely harmonized with the large amount of meat hanging on their upper bodies. Their legs were lacking in strength, at least in relation to the muscles above their waist. Typical bodybuilders. Pushing weights was nice and all to build muscle mass, but if one could not utilize the potential of said muscles they simply became dead weight. Nothing more but cheap intimidation.

"Can I have the rest of my documents, please?"

"Now, now, don't be so hasty, Mr Lie. I am very grateful that you are such a reliable customer, but why don't we chat for just a moment?"

"No."

Fidelius face looked like it had been slapped. He was probably not used to being rebuffed in such a blunt fashion.

"You got your money. I want my papers, now."

"I did a little bit of digging, you know? It's not your first time you changed identities and I don't get commissions everyday to forge someone into the prestigious Beacon Academy."

I glared at him. I never told him upfront that I wanted to cheat my way into Beacon. But for the one forging the papers it was probably clear as day that I wanted entry into one of the four combat academies. Question was: How did he manage to narrow it down?

"Now, I don't know what kind of hotshot you believe yourself to be or what kind of past you are running from, but Beacon's security and intelligence are on quite another level and if you get busted, your paper trail could lead them to me and that would make me a very unhappy rat. So..."

"You want more money."

"You do have a firm grasp..."

"No."

"Boy, do you really not understand the situation you are in?" He inclined his head towards the two bodyguards flanking him.

I did a step-in, formed the fingers of my left hand into a sword-seal and pierced the high dantian of the left bodyguard, disrupting the flow of his meridians. I turned my body halfway to add momentum and rammed my right elbow sideways against his neck.

There was no need at all to charge my elbow strike with qi. His barrier had already collapsed so his carotid artery received the full brunt of my attack robbing him of consciousness.

The other bodyguard tried to draw his weapon, a scimitar he carried on his hips, but before he could finish his draw, I was already upon him using a left palm thrust to block his arm doing the drawing motion. The faunus bodyguard was physically stronger than me, so my palm thrust merely delayed his arm motion, but the moment I touched his meridian, I injected it with a qi needle which started to bounce and race around his qi network.

I crouched down do evade his right handed slash and when he followed it up with a strike of his left fist, I simply thrust my other palm against it injecting another qi needle.

My timing was perfect. The first qi needle and the second met each other at the faunus' fist. They created a meridian-detonation that ruptured every blood vessel in his hand.

The howl that followed sounded suspiciously like a wolf. His stance was a total mess and the grip on his blade turned shoddy, so I released him from his suffering, albeit temporarily, by slamming both my palms against his eardrums at the same time.

The sudden change in pressure propagated through his double auditory system and caused him to black out. It was a move that only worked that way on faunus with an additional pair of ears. On humans or fauni with only one pair, that move could destroy their inner ear and in some cases part of their brain.

The whole encounter took about five seconds.

When I turned around to face Fidelius he had been reduced to a whimpering mess. Coward.

"I apologize", he cried. "Please spare me. Take the documents. Take the money, just spare me."

I took the papers. Two birth certificates for me and Nora, several papers signed by fictional guardians to prove their 'existence' as well as certificates of death for the same guardians who were not alive to begin with.

Everything was in order.

"You should get your two companions to a doctor. Otherwise my attacks may have serious long-term consequences." I looked at the wolf faunus' left hand and sighed. Using the delayed meridian-detonation was perhaps a little overkill. Even taking qi regeneration and professional medical attention into account, he will never be able to use his hand the same way again.

I left the abandoned dust factory on silent steps. I also left behind a very frightened rat faunus, two unconscious bodyguards and a suitcase full of money. Business was business after all.


	2. Sky hijacking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As most of you probably noticed Lie Ren uses another school of thought when it comes to the phenomenon of Aura and almost all of these technical terms are Chinese in origin, so at the end of this chapter you will find a short glossary about the ones that have been mentioned from chapter 1 until the end of chapter 2. Reading it is not mandatory, but could ease your understanding of Ren's inner monologue. A lot of these concepts also exist in Chinese martial arts or Daoist mysticism, but their meanings do not overlap 100%.

I should have known. Never ever entrust Nora Valkyrie with a task that requires subtle or responsible handling. I let myself be fooled. Her mature demeanor when I told her about us attending Beacon Academy. The fact that she pooled her last earnings at the smithy to our very limited funds, spouting words like 'easing my burden'. So this morning, I asked her to do the check-in at the Vacuo flight terminal while I went to exchange our Rands into Vale currency, the Lien.

I never knew how powerful a emotion regret could be. As it so happened, Nora mistook our flight number (I admit they were pretty similar), led the both of us on a goose-chase around the Vacuo Central Airport complex and before we knew it, our flight to Beacon was already in the air and we still trapped in a maze of busy people, seemingly endless tunnels and stations numbered in a fashion that escaped my logic.

So, what did I do in this kind of desperate situation? I listened to one of her ideas.

I was probably out of my mind.

Nora's brilliant plan was to be a stow-away on one of the airships transporting wares across the kingdoms. It seemed to be a valid idea. We were traveling light and opportunities were abound, for Vacuo Central Airport was also a nexus for commodity exchange and logistics.

Seeking out a transporting vehicle headed to our destination was easy. We just needed to check the labels on the crates. Sneaking on said ship also turned out to be a cinch. I was stealthy to begin with and even Nora could be silent as long as I told her that we were playing the ninja-game.

Commodity transporters tended to be slower than civilian flights. After eavesdropping on the captain, we found out that we would arrive one day later than initially planned. Shame, but it could not be helped. We would miss the opening ceremony, but as long as we were on time for initiation, everything should turn out to be fine. While we crouched between large crates of volatile dust shipments, I send a message with my scroll to the contact address written on our acceptance letters. It belonged to a person called Mrs Goodwitch.

The reply came only minutes later.

_Dear Mr Ren and Ms Valkyrie,_

_your late arrival has been duly noted. Thank you very much for contacting me in advance and beware that if you were to miss the initiation both your positions in Beacon will be forfeit._

_Sincerely,_

_Glynda Goodwitch._

No pressure as long as our flight went without a hitch, but it was of course not meant to be, for halfway on our flight to the place of salvation the transporter was hijacked by air-pirates looking for some quick money. Or so I hoped. It was hard to verify from our hiding place. The crates we were crouching between contained quality shipments from the Schnee-Dust company.

_Should we stomp them?_ Said Nora in sign language. 

I rolled my eyes. _No stomping as long as we are several hundred meters above ground,_ I signed back. I paused for a moment. _And if you deploy Magnhild, do not, absolutely do not use the grenade launcher mode._

_Cheapskate._ She made a face while her hands moved around. 

_Nora, simply don't. Not while we are sitting in the middle of industrial amounts of dust._

_But won't the attackers take all of that away? We would lose our hiding place. And then we could not continue the ninja-game._

Was that the only thing she was concerned about? Skewed priorities at their finest.

I closed my eyes and listened to the commotion that began to encircle our hiding place. Security on the airfreight was a joke and the captain seemed to be sane enough not to risk the life of his crew in a fight he could not win. I weighed our options. We could change our hiding place and simply wait for the storm to pass. There were problems though. Due to the robbery the ship could potentially not continue on its planned route but instead return to Vacuo. We would stay undetected but lose our spots at Beacon. The second scenario was even worse. If the robbers were particularly cruel or ruthless like paramilitary they could even opt to blow up the ship to remove all witnesses of their crime. I sighed. In the end it all came down to beating the pirates, or attackers or whoever they were. In that case at least justice was on our side.

Not that I particularly cared about lady justice.

I started to sign again. _Engine room._

Nora grinned, now that we were finally taking action. _Got it._

The engine room was in the opposite direction of where the pirates were coming from. The crates gave us more than enough cover until we reached the ventilation system. Trying to crawl into the air ducts was not easy. It was a tight fit, but I was slim and Nora small so we managed to squeeze our way from the engine room to the upper decks. Nora talked incessantly on the whole way, but that was the whole reason I taught her sign language in the first place. Making her shut up was impossible, so in situations that required stealth she would at least be silent while talking.

When we reached the deck and got our first good look at the whole situation my stomach began to churn. The bad news first: The group hijacking the dust shipments were indeed paramilitary. White Fang to be precise, wearing their trademark blood-red dog emblem emblazoning their shirts. I ground my teeth, because now a confrontation would be inevitable. What really caught my attention though was the sole human who seemed to be in charge of the operation:

A female, very pretty and really short in stature despite the high heeled boots she wore. I estimated her to be 1,53 m without heels which would make her shorter than Nora. Now that was an accomplishment in itself. Her clothes looked like a modern interpretation of Vale Custodian fashion from about two centuries ago and her hair had a strange multicolored pattern.

_Her hair kinda reminds me of ice-cream. Strawberry, chocolate and vanilla. Yummy, yummy. :3_

It probably was not worth mentioning that Nora Valkryie's usage of sign language contained some strange quirks that I had no memory of ever teaching her. Sometimes I had problems deciphering them myself.

Now the worse news: The White Fang members were in the process of preparing fuses that connected to crates containing explosive dust. No witnesses seemed to be their MO and in order to achieve exactly that they apparently wanted to blow the whole ship sky high.

I hated it when my paranoia turned out to be true.

Everything happened in near silence. The crew members were bound and gagged and obviously struggling, now that they saw what the robbers had in store for them. The White Fang members themselves almost never talked, although their coordination was impeccable like a pack of well trained predators.

And the human female? She was the most silent of all. Her steps were light as a feather, almost like she was floating. Her breathing and posture was simply stunning. From time to time she corrected some of the faunus by pointing her finger in certain directions or by tilting her head slightly, but while I saw some of the faunus muttering among themselves, she never moved her lips at all. It was quite eerie.

Suddenly, one of the ship workers managed to break free of his bonds. He happened to be the only one with reasonable amounts of qi, probably used it to temporarily strengthen himself. I saw him drew a knife, saw him attacking the lone female human.

It turned out to be the last mistake he would ever make in his life. She sidestepped his lunge with the kind of relaxed stance you take when doing a walk in the park. She followed that up with a round-house kick, but instead of crashing her heel into his skull, she used the motion of the attack to snake her kicking leg around his neck. She mounted the muscular man, riding his shoulder with one leg while using the other one to suffocate him. It took about five seconds until he started to black out. Pressing with such force against both carotid arteries tended to do that, even if you had a barrier, but when the burly man's consciousness finally gave out, relieving him of the much needed protection of his qi, she turned her hips in a jerking motion, transferring the force to her legs. The snapping sound of a broken neck was all too clearly heard across the silent deck.

Killing was a dirty business, but watching her do it was something else: I had never seen anyone end a person with such style and finesse before. It was almost pure agility and technique. The fluidity of her movements, the way she flowed from one motion to another, it was chilling.

She made killing look good and it fascinated and disgusted me at the same time.

_Nora, I take back my command. Deploy Magnhild's launcher mode. How many sonic shock grenades do you have left?_

She grinned evilly. _Three._

_Use them at your own discretion. If possible shoot them at large groups of fauni and in short succession of each other, but absolutely do not let them explode in the vicinity of crates that contain fire dust. It can be ignited by the energy of sound waves._ I gave her my most sincere look. The situation was dire. If we wanted to get out of here alive I had to trust her completely. _Can you do that?_

_No problem. And after the grenades its smashing time?_

I hesitated, picturing the kind of hell I was about to unleash on these White Fang goons. _Yes._

_May I break them?_

_Try to avoid it, but if one of them is flung off the ship by your hammer swings, well, nobody told them to rob a dust shipment in the sky. Call it occupational hazard._ I gave her my thumps up. _Let's plug our ears and one additional matter: Detonate one of your grenades near their human leader._

_You don't like ice-cream?_

Is her mind filled with nothing but food and mayhem? _I want to confirm something._

I took out plugs made of bee-wax and popped them into my ears. Nora donned pink mufflers. I gave them a good once over and nodded to myself. They looked good on her.

Nora took out her oversized smashing tool of destruction and with a flick of her wrist the implement morphed itself into the launcher of mayhem. The noise of gears and actuators was loud enough to alarm some of the faunus near us, but Nora wasted no time. She tackled the fencing that sealed off the air-ducts and broke it away forcefully. In the same motion she dove straight to the middle of the deck and fired her weapon three times in succession.

Trained humans or fauni could be very fast but I had yet to meet someone who could outrun the speed of sound. Two of the sonic grenades detonated in clusters of White Fang members. The last one flew right where I instructed her to shoot: Near the mysterious human female. The effect was immediate. The faunus seized as if they were struck by lightning. Some of them dropped on their knees and a few of them even collapsed immediately. The shock of the sound reverberated in my ears despite me plugging them beforehand.

The human female stood there as if nothing had happened. Nora's actions alerted her, but all she did when the grenade flew at her was watching its descend and subsequent detonation with a bemused smile on her face. She covered herself by opening her parasol at the last second.

So that was her weapon.

I took out the earplugs and started my combat breathing pattern, jumped out of the ventilation shaft and dashed madly at the female. I left the goons to Nora and her trusty oversized hammer of doom.

The moment I was almost upon her she performed a lightning-quick thrust with her parasol. I let the qi flow into my hands and deflected the thrust with my reinforced right palm, feeling through the contact how she finally staggered. Her expression and eye-color changed from smugness to horror in a matter of milliseconds.

A window of opportunity. A slip in her ever constant vigilance. Was there anything else needed?

I did a deep step-in, placing my left foot in the middle of her stance while grabbing her right wrist with my deflecting hand. A slight shift from my left leg and a pulling motion on her right arm broke her already impaired balance completely. I drew her body towards me, turned my torso to complete my horse stance and transferred all the momentum and qi-energy into the tip of my left elbow.

When I struck her solar plexus, the qi-infused blow rippled through her whole meridian network. Her barrier did not break down, a testament to her prodigious breathing control and energy refinement, but I had applied a vibration of about 60 hertz to my elbow strike, so a portion of the physical force also bypassed her qi-barrier – and her ribcage, inflicting direct damage to the organs beneath.

When she stood up her legs were shaking. She was also bleeding from her mouth and left ear. Typical signs of internal damage. Besides, the sonic grenade already wounded it. I drew a sharp breath to fill my dantian with qi. My blood began to race and energy flowed through every pore. I took a cat stance and closed my palms into fists ready to launch a fajin strike.

I was ready to finish her. Permanently.

I launched my body at her already damaged form, mentally picturing my left fist to the likeness of a fireball. Then nothing. My strike only met air as her body broke down into shards as if I just shattered a large mirror. The lack of resistance disrupted my form and I had to strain my legs to keep my balance. It also took every ounce of my concentration to slow down my blood flow. I directed all the pent up energy into my dantian again and dissipated the force by sharply breathing out. A loud hissing tone could be heard characteristic of a person who just performed fajin.

A metallic glitter sprang up in the corner of my eye. My body crouched down instinctively and a thin blade passed the top of my head by mere millimeters. Then she was upon me, performing a series of stabs too fast for my eyes to follow. A rapier, hidden inside the parasol. I deflected the attacks with my palms, felt the weak foundation in everyone of her steps, but even though her vestibular organ was shot, even though keeping her balance should be physiologically impossible, she still manged to corner me with her naked blade, while fumbling in her high heels.

Her speed was simply crazy.

I grabbed the buckle of the 'belt' tied around my waist, opened the mechanism and drew my own hidden sword to parry her insanely quick attacks.

If she were at 100% I would probably be dead, but she was no fencer. The skill behind her blade was surgical, straightforward and without depth. She was not aware of the sophistication behind the sword and what else was martial arts but mitigating the advantage of a physically superior opponent?

I moved my blade like a slithering snake, utilizing the flexibility of the metal to its fullest by letting the edge slide around her guard to aim at her wrists. She tried to deflect my attacks, but she obviously had no experience at all with facing a jian. I let another of her thrusts overshoot by applying a little bit of force at exactly the right angle, using the force of her attack to let my own blade bend around her rapier to cut right into her thump.

I saw her wince in pain and immediately reduced the distance intend on grabbing her injured hand to wrestle the weapon away while at the same time swinging the sword at her eyes, but my left hand only grabbed air and my jian shattered another mirror-image of her body.

Her ability fooled my eyes, but not my deeper senses. Her illusions were not capable of duplicating her qi-signature, so it took me only an instance to correct my guard. The threat of my stance was apparently enough to intimidate her, for she aborted her attack halfway to increase the distance between us with a mighty leap backwards. When she landed, her legs buckled and finally gave away. She fell on her knees while clutching her weapon with a bloody hand.

I suppressed a frustrated sign. That ability of hers was getting on my nerves, but my mind drew a blank on exactly how she performed that illusionary trick. Then realization hit me: A Semblance. A unique and purely individual manifestation of qi, jin and shen. The one and only mystery which lied outside the understanding of neijiagong. I forced myself to relax as I scrutinized her. Her face looked distressed, almost like she was in shock though her breathing pattern was already becoming harmonized and stable. So did her barrier.

Nora was playing whack-a-mole with the White Fang members, her yells of delight resounding through the whole deck. Reinforcements were pouring from the enemy vessel to replenish the members that were downed by the sonic grenades, but most of the goons were smashed and blown across the deck like toy soldiers and their attempts to slow her down were pathetic. Apparently, the mysterious female was the only dangerous combatant amongst them. But how to nail her down? Her Semblance made her as slippery as an eel and the longer I hesitated, the more time her body had to regenerate her wounds.

And once her qi healed the damage in the inner ear to restore her balance, I was screwed. Royally.

It was time for drastic measures.

I closed off my mind and spoke a mantra: _Pain is just a phantom of the mind._

I intensified my combat breathing cycle. _Pain is just a warning for those who do not know better._

I sprinted towards her. _Pain can be suppressed, it can be blocked, it can be ignored._

My blade flew forward, but instead of parrying her counter, I manipulated her rapier right towards my shoulder – and through it, and as the piece of metal buried itself into the upper part of my pectoral muscle, right between my major arteries, it gave me the guarantee that the hand holding that weapon was not made of smoke and mirrors.

I grabbed her wrist, satisfied that it did not vanish into nothingness, craned my neck and smashed my forehead against her face.

If in doubt, always use blunt force trauma against the head. Even a qi barrier was helpless in case the brain was violently shaken inside the cranium.

She lost the grip around her weapon, which translated to the tip that was still embedded inside me. The pain was there, but I was kind of stepping beside the agony itself. The only thing that registered in my mind was the fact that my enemy was losing her bearings.

I raised my left leg, infused it with qi and rammed my kneecap against her crotch.

Men were not the only ones sensitive around that area. Lots and lots of nerve endings.

She cried out. It was the first sound I heard from her lips, an inarticulate grunt of suffering.

I headbutted her again and this time I felt the unmistakable sensation of unblemished skin on my qi-inforced forehead. Her nose made a scrunching noise and seconds later, she sagged on the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut. My sword laid on the ground, out of immediate reach, so I ripped the other blade out of my flesh, turned it to a backhand grip. My focus was clear. A single thrust through the heart.

Something massive moved towards me. I raised the rapier out of pure instinct but the stike still blew me away while being heavy enough to rattle me to the bone. I flew several meters and landed quite inelegantly on my rear. I instantly struggled to get on my feet, but my head was feeling wobbly. My wound was bleeding profusely, but I paid it no heed, for I was being looked down by the most massive and muscular faunus I have ever met.

This guy was no mere bodybuilder. His qi barrier was like a freaking fortress, so massive I doubted that even my most lethal qi manipulation techniques could penetrate his defenses on the first go. Taking that wicked chainsaw into account which he carried around like some kind of broad sword and I doubted that I would get the opportunity for a second try.

I could not take this guy be myself. I needed Nora and her Hammer of destruction.

Before I could map out another course of attack inside my mind, the massive faunus raised his hand, palm outstretched. The universal sign of non-aggression.

"Can you tell your friend with the hammer to stand down?" He spoke in a rumbling bass. "I want to talk."

An offer for parley. That sounded good, for I certainly did not want to fight this juggernaut.

"Nora, stop! No more smashing!"

She was in the middle of another hammer swing, but managed to divert it. The White Fang member only took a glancing blow that threw him about two meters off his feet. "Oh come on. It was just getting fun."

I sighed. "Nora, just stop, OK?"

"Okiedokie", she saluted and ran to my side.

"Sorry", I mouthed to the giant faunus who just nodded back.

"Ren, you are hurt! Who did this to you?" She clenched her weapon and threw the boss-faunus an enraged look.

"Nora, stand down. Its just a flesh wound." I straightened myself and faced the big faunus. "What do you want?"

"I wish for both sides to cease hostilities and to go our separate ways without interference. If we continue to fight, it will only cost me more men until we eventually wear you down and kill you."

For such an apparent muscle head, he could talk quite well. Appearances could be so deceiving. "Agreed, but I have a condition."

The faunus snorted. "Speak."

"I want you to permanently disable that Mark-II 7.62mm Vulcan mini gun that you have equipped on your air ship. Right now there is no guarantee that you won't blow us out of the sky the moment the distance between us is sufficient."

"Are you sure you are in a position to give me orders, human?"

I gave Nora a look. My fingers danced around in quick bursts. _Grenade-launcher, fire dust._

Magnhild transformed the second time into the Launcher of Mayhem. The muzzle was pointed right at a stack of explosive dust that the White Fang members failed to transport to their own ship.

"I may not be in a position to give you orders, but I am certainly in a position to threaten you. Destroy all your on-board long-distance weapons right now or we all die."

"You are bluffing."

"Did you not see what I did to your underling?" I pointed to the woman, who was only now getting to her feet. "I let myself being run through just so I could neutralize her Semblance and get a shot at actually killing her." I gave him a frosty look. "How many of your men are dedicated enough to carve up their own flesh to create even the smallest opportunities for your cause? Without flinching? Without hesitation?"

For several seconds, we only stared each other down. The atmosphere was thick enough that it could be cut with a knife. Then the boss faunus broke out in laughter.

"You are tough, human. You lack softness not only in body but also in mind. So very different from these civilized humans or that stupid pack of huntsmen. They may tote around their powers and their weapons, but you are someone who knows what it means to _bleed_."

He turned to his subordinates. "Brothers and sisters, get the wounded on deck and do as this human demands. I want the Vulcan and the missile launchers destroyed."

One of his subordinates, a female stag-faunus tried to raise an objection, but he cut her down immediately.

"Now!"

The mysterious female looked around with a hint of confusion as the White Fang members started to retreat. Her features turned to surprise when she saw how some members started to disassmble the weaponry on their assault ship. Her nose was broken and one of her cheeks began to swell heavily. Her stance was still wobbly.

I raised my hands and signed: _Your big leader agreed on a ceasefire. You should retreat._

A look of surprise flitted across her face and her eyes changed colors. Brown and silver turned into pink and white. _Who the hell are you?_ She signed right back.

So I guessed right. She was a deaf-mute. _Nobody of interest. I don't care about the shipment. I Just want you and your men to leave._

She threw me a look that I could not quite place. A mixture of confusion and... fascination? _You wanted to kill me._

Guilty as charged. _Just returned the favor._

She actually smirked at that. Then she raised her left hand and set her nasal bone with a loud crunch. She grimaced and tried to blink away the pain. It took her a moment to return to our silent conversation again. _I have never been hit by such sophisticated Aura strikes such as yours. And what the hell were those grenades?_

_You don't seriously expect me to answer your questions, do you?_

_Could you at least return my weapon?_

_Only if you return mine._

Both of us crouched down and took our respective swords. We threw them at each other at the same time.

The woman sheathed her rapier inside her parasol and I sheathed my jian inside my belt.

She sized me up again and her eyes turned gray and white. Suddenly, the smirk adorning her face turned menacing. She tilted her head provocatively as if she just told me a very dirty joke. _You smell like me._ She signed and even the smooth delicate movements of her perfectly manicured fingers were oozing with glee. _Someone who walks in the shadows. Someone who murders._ She paused. Then she opened her parasol and tilted her head, all demure and coquettish, though the blood on her face kind of diminished the effect. _You are amusing. It has been a long time since someone got the better of me. I think both of us could learn quite a lot from each other. What do you think, handsome? How about a date after this whole affair is over? You are obviously headed to Vale and I will be staying there, too - for the foreseeable future._

Was she hitting on me? Right after I tried to kill her? Sorry. _I don't associate with terrorists... and masochists are not my type._

_Shame._ Both of her eyes turned white. _I don't meet a lot of people who can talk to me, you know?_ She tilted her head again, although this time her expression seemed almost sad, vulnerable. _Oh well, if you ever change your mind..._ her left hand flickered and a white object flew straight at me like a thrown dagger. I plucked it out of the air. It was a business card.

Natalja Efratesco Ovianti

Eraser for hire

Contact number: 5768111Eta -Omega -Theta

available 24/7

_… leave me a message._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glossary
> 
> Qi - (气) Most of you probably know the japanese transliteration of Ki. The korean one is Gi, but all of them use the same pictogramm or Kanji. The most literal translation is air which ties it neatly to breathing. In the context of Remnant, Qi is the one thing that comes closest to what Aura is.
> 
> Meridian - A concept from traditional Chinese Medicine. These are metaphysical tracks for the qi energy to flow inside a human being. Acupunture works by sticking needles into these energy tracks to augment or lessen the Yin or Yang flow of a human's Qi. Some Chinese Martial Arts also use the knowlegde of meridians to their advantage by utilizing debilitating strikes at crucial points in a human's meridian network - commonly known as acupressure.
> 
> Dantian (丹田) - There are actually three different dantians, but when Ren is talking about it, he usually means the lower dantian which is located about three fingers below the navel. The middle dantian is located at the solar plexus and the high dantian is located at the forehead exactly between both eyes. All three places are heavily tied to the meridian network (even in real life Chinese medicine) and they are also important energy gates in Indian Ayurveda called chakras. In Martial Arts the lower dantian is a focus center for breath control which means Qi control.
> 
> Neijiaquan (內家拳) The general term for a slew of Chinese Martial Arts styles that rely on so called "inner energy". The most popular ones are Taijiquan, Baguazhang and Xingyiquan. In Remnant, this inner energy is Aura, but expect Ren to use it in ways that are not quite common amongst Hunters. Ren's fighting style is a mix of Bajiquan and Baguazhang. For reference, Bajiquan is Kirei Kotomine's fighting style as seen in Fate Zero and Baguazhang is the basis of air bending in Avatar (The Western animation).
> 
> Jian (剑) The Chinese straight sword, sometimes also dubbed the 'gentleman's sword'. The blade is edged on both sides but it can be used for both thrusting and slashing. One of its most outstanding features is the fact that the upper two-third of the blade (there are variations depending on the design) is very flexible and the force required for the material to bend is comparably low, even when contrasted with European rapiers. Controlling this easily bend blade to your advantage takes overwhelming amounts of training and time (I speak from personal experience) which is the main reason why this weapon was usually only used by members of china's upper feudal class.
> 
> Fajin - (发劲) A form of 'meta-technique' that refers to a sudden release of stored (qi-)energy. Fajin is utilized in Neijia styles and can be deployed using fists, palms, kicks or anything else that one hits an enemy with. Most of the time when Ren is fighting somebody with Aura protection he is using Fajin more or less subconsciously to circumvent a portion of the Aura protection. The one time its mentioned in the chapter, he is using a Fajin strike that is heavily charged and when he pictured his fist as a fireball, it is not meant in a literal sense, but as a form of image projection that is also used in real life martial arts to enhance one's own attacks.
> 
> All the Chinese characters I will ever use are in simplified Chinese.


	3. Arrival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The glossary continues as new Chinese concepts pop up in the story or until I get angry feedback from readers that it is totally unnecessary. I mean, if it were Japanese ones I would not bother due to the popularity of anime and all the cultural osmosis tied to it, but there are distinct differences between both cultures. 
> 
> I am also starting my own World of Remnant entries. Like in canon they are narrated by Ozpin or the Mysterious Narrator and add world building and information that does not fit Ren's inner monologue. I will place them at the end of each chapter like the glossary and again - reading them is not mandatory, but I promise you that the information presented there WILL tie into the story at some point. I will try my best to keep them short and engaging.

The White fang retreated soon after. When their air ship disengaged, I experienced some of the most stressful 30 seconds of my life, for there was still the possibility that the faunus had another backup rocket launcher somewhere stashed away to shoot us out of the sky. But my paranoia proofed to be unfounded for once, so Nora and I proceeded to free the ship's crew and defuse the bomb which was only half finished. The mood among the men was grim. One of their own had been unceremoniously killed and about half of their shipment had been ransacked.  
The captain, a stout big-bearded man with a withered face, gave us a dressing down. We were stow-aways on his ship after all, but in the end the man was feeling far too thankful to throw us off. The moment he heard that we were on a tight schedule to Beacon Academy he ordered his men to make double time.  
He even called us heroes in the making. How very curious.  
It was now the middle of the night and there were only small patches of clouds giving me an almost unobscured view to the sky. Brilliant lights dotted the endless black, forming streams of illumination. Some stars shone like diamonds, but most of them were weak lights, their presence so miniscule as if they could fade away in a mere blink. Still, their sheer numbers gave a sense of demarcation and substance to the infinite void of space.  
It had been some time since I stargazed. Urban areas like Vacuo's main city never truly slept and nighttime was filled with the glow of artificial light that blanked out the weaker stars allowing only the brightest suns to maintain their presence. But for me, a night sky without stream upon stream of weaker stars had simply no charm.  
"I almost forgot that there were so many stars in the sky."  
I turned to my orange haired companion. "Me too."  
"Whooa, say Ren, why are there never so many stars when we were living in Vacuo and where are all the constellations I always read about in the magazines that talk about horoscopes and stuff. Oh, and I have also brought a blanket."  
Good thinking. I was feeling a little bit chilly. I raised an eyebrow when I saw a small problem. "There is only one."  
She suddenly became hesitant. "Well, I have only found one in our room, though its not really our room, but the room of the guy that got killed, so the captain lend it to us temporarily which is kinda morbid if I think about it and there honestly was only one blanket there..."  
"Let's share."  
"... oh right. Yeah, that's a very good idea." She gave me one of her trademark big smiles.  
It took some time to wrap the wool blanket around the two of us, but when we were finished our arms were touching. I felt her heat seeping into me and fell into a state of contentment. I gazed up again and simply drank in the sight.  
"Say, Ren?"  
"Yes?"  
"How is your wound?"  
"Its healing."  
"Will you be okay for initiation?"  
That was the big question. The blade did not damage anything crucial - mostly torn muscle tissue - and I applied some herb salve to speed along the regeneration process. Now the only thing I had to do was channel my qi to the wound and let it heal by itself. Initiation was less than two days away and by estimation, the tissue should be mended until then. Still, there was no way I will be able to put the usual pressure on my shoulder.  
"I will cope."  
I thought about the close fight I had with that woman. Her agility was like nothing I ever encountered and that was when her sense of balance was impaired. Perhaps the sonic boom did not affect her inner ear as strongly as normal people. I did not know the exact physiological cause behind her deafness after all. Nevertheless, I should have been able to finish the fight after my first successful attack. The moment right after my elbow strike was the best opportunity I had to kill her, but I took the extra time to charge my qi before following up with the fajin blow, which in turn let to a protracted fight that forced me to wound myself.  
Why? I was more than skilled enough to chain up various techniques without missing a beat. A vibrating elbow strike followed by a heavily charged fajin blow was difficult but far from impossible for someone like me.  
But I hesitated. I paused to think about killing her instead of letting instinct take over. I had become soft.  
I was not sure whether this was a good or bad thing.  
"Can you tell me a story about the stars?"  
I paused. Her request brought back memories from when we barely knew each other. A time when she was still distrustful of me, unused to a life on the run, thrown out into a world without the support of home and family.  
"Aren't there stories about constellations in your magazines for girls?"  
"Sure, but the ones you tell are totally different."  
"I see." I let my mind wander for a bit. "Did I ever tell you the one about how the milkyway was formed?"  
"What's the milkyway? Never heard of it, but it sounds kinda delicious."  
No surprise there, though I should give her the very short version about it. Explaining the concept of a galaxy would require me to give her a whole rundown on basic astronomy, a topic that was pretty much obscure in Vacuo. The situation in the other kingdoms was probably similar. "The milkyway refers to the river of stars that you can see across the sky." I pointed from one end of the horizon to the opposite end. "Do you see the way the stars cluster along this strip of the sky?"  
"Yeah, now that you mention it. So, what is the story?"  
"Do you still remember the gods of the old world that I told you about?"  
"Uuuhh, there were lots of them."  
"What about Heracles?"  
"Oh, you mean that badass who strangled an armored lion to death with his bare hands and slayed that big King Taijitu thingy, only with many more regenerating heads and speared that gigantic Boarbatusk beast after terrorizing it with his voice alone and tamed that three headed fire breathing dog by beating it into submission?"  
I suppressed a sigh. Count on Nora Valkyrie to remember the tales dealing with unbridled violence. "Yes, that Heracles."  
"This milkyway story is also about him?"  
"Yes."  
"Okay, shoot."  
"As you know, Heracles was a demigod, the son of Zeus, chief and first among the gods and the mortal woman, Alcmene."  
"I remember that chief god. He smashes everything he dislikes with his thunderbolts. I like that guy."  
Again, no surprises here. "The problem was that Zeus was married to the goddess Hera who was as always exasperated by her husbands unfaithful behaviour. Zeus announced the birth of Heracles and that he wanted to make this particular son of his an equal amongst the gods despite him being part mortal. Hera as always, did her best to sabotage her husbands efforts. Her scheme involved manipulating the day of birth of both Heracles and the son of another Hero. It was a messy affair and involves sworn oaths and some technicalities with wordings. I won't go into the details, but Hera's trickery robbed Heracles of his divine birthright and Zeus's hands were tied, because acknowledging his son would require him to break his oath, which was a big taboo for gods. Still, Zeus did not give up. If he could not give his son his full divinity openly, he would do so sneakily.  
I made a dramatic pause. "The goddess Hera was known as the incarnation and protector of motherhood and by letting a child, any child feed on her milk, they would gain divine powers. So after Heracles' birth, Zeus told Hermes, the messenger god and all around trickster to wait for Hera to fall asleep. And when she did, Hermes took the newborn demigod and placed him on her. Of course, even with his divine heritage, Heracles was still very much a baby, so he did what instinct dictated him to do - he searched the closest nipple and began to suck.  
Heracles was close to getting just the right amount of milk, but he was probably quite a messy baby and the legends said that he was extremely big for a newborn - nearly killed his mother during childbirth, because he did not fit through her birth canal. Though, as I mentioned before there was also some foul play involved."  
I made a pause to take a deep breath. Seems like the ancient society that came up with this story did not know the wonders of C-section. They must have been pretty primitive. "Sorry, I digressed. As I said, he was a big baby and probably made a lot of noise when he ate and that woke up the mother goddess. She took only a second to assess the situation. Then, she flew into a rage and ripped the newborn from her bosom, but due to the sudden movement a tiny bit of milk shot out of her and..." I watched up to the sky, "...spilled itself all over the firmament. And that is the milky way."  
Nora was silent for a few seconds after I finished my story. Then she asked me a preposterous question.  
"Was this Hera a cow goddess?"  
"No, she had the form of a human."  
"But milk comes from cows, doesn't it?"  
"Yes."  
"But this Hera was not a cow, but still gave milk. And totally awesome milk at that because they became stars in the sky. Is that a goddess thing? Wait, does that mean that Heracles got to drink stars when he was baby? That is totally awesome!"  
"Uhhmm."  
"Ren, how does real stars taste? Can you cook some for me?"  
"Nora, stars are not edible."  
"Your story just said that Heracles ate stars when he was just a baby. Or is that a demigod thing?"  
Unraveling all the false assumptions she made in the last few seconds would take me the whole night and I was far too exhausted to do that.  
"Yes."  
"Then I just have to become a demigod, too."  
"Nora, divinity is something you are born with. You can't just become a demigod or full god", which was technically a lie in the context of Heracles' legend, because his story was all about his ascension to a full god, but oh well.  
"That is no fun." Nora gave me her cutest pout, but I ignored her with practiced ease. I was not putting the idea of her eating plasma consisting of hydrogen and helium heated up to beyond a million degree Celsius into her mind. On the other hand, I did hypothesize about her stomach having a black hole... no. Stop. Beyond that thought lurked madness.  
"But it is still strange that this goddess could give milk just like a cow."  
"Nora, humans also have milk."  
"They do? I have never seen it during grocery-shopping. All the milk packages have these cute cow pictures on them. Did I already tell you that they are my favorite animals?"  
I suppressed the urge to palm my face. It was not really her fault. She never went to school after being on the run with me which meant that she never took the classes on human reproduction and it was not like breast-feeding was a common topic that popped up in small talk between teenagers.  
Still, this was something that should be told to her by a woman.  
I sighed. Just grit your teeth and get it over with.  
"Nora, I will tell you this only once, so please, listen closely."  
"Aye, aye."  
"Humans like all mammals can produce milk to feed their offspring. Dogs belong to this group as well as cats and pigs, but most mammals only build significant amounts of milk right after giving birth. Cows are special, because they have been bred by humans to have milk all year round which is not something that occurs in nature."  
"Wait, you said that milk only builds up after birth, but only woman can give birth to babies."  
And now for the awkward part. "Yes Nora, only woman can feed babies."  
"So I can do it, too?"  
"Yes, Nora."  
"Cool. And where is the milk stored inside of me?"  
I palmed my face. It was reflex. I could not help it.  
"Think back to the story", I deadpanned.  
"The baby was laid on her boso..." Then she looked down on her own significant cleavage. "Wow, so they actually have some use besides making boys and men stare at them?"  
"Yes."

I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was her smiling face.  
"Rise and shine!"  
I grunted.  
"You slept in, lazy-butts. I already talked with the captain and we will arrive in Beacon today."  
I staggered to the aluminum sink and looked into the mirror. A pair of golden eyes stared back at me. I splashed cold water on my face to wake myself up. Then I went to my bag and took out my tooth brush, paste and contact lenses. They were cosmetic and the colour was of course pink.  
"Ren, I brought you breakfast. And the captain is very funny. Told me some stories about him being a pirate in his youth. But nothing so cruel like the White Fang we smashed yesterday."  
I brushed my teeth, slipped in my contacts and finally felt like my mind was working properly. I went to my bag again and took out my spare tunic. It was a light shade of green like the one that got pierced, although it lacked the golden embroidery. After that I inspected my ruined tunic by channeling my qi through the intricate Dust weaving. The gold embroidery began to glow slightly, but when I increased the output the glow flickered and died like a damaged light bulb. Great. It was not like quality Dust-thread could be bought in every street vendor. Weaving Dust into clothes was not a common practice anymore. If I wanted to repair it, I probably had to produce my own thread.  
I decided to shelf this particular repair project until I had some serious money again.  
"Ohh, you can't light up your clothes anymore?"  
I nodded. Perhaps next time I will go for a less elaborate and fragile pattern.  
"Ren, I just have the right thing to cheer you up. I finished adjusting your weapons for Beacon. Do you want to see?"  
"Sure" I sat down on the bed and grabbed a sandwich out of the stack that Nora brought. The bread was stale and peanut butter combined with strawberry jam was not a combination I liked. Still, I needed the energy.  
"And here I present you, the totally awesome twin-submashine-blade guns." She zipped in front me. "You should name them."  
"No." I deadpanned and took both weapons to examine their feel.  
Nora had started to build them out of scraps right after the evening when I told her about our acceptance letters. She was even mindful enough to paint them a beautiful green. I increased the strength of my grip, examined the weight and could not help but feel impressed. They fit me like a glove and certainly looked nothing like weapons that were hastily put together from spare parts.  
"Thank you, Nora." I smiled  
She beamed right back. "No problem. You want an awesome weapon, you get one, although these weapons are not really made for awesomeness."  
"Nora, I can't attend Beacon while using my conventional weapons or spirits beware, my bare hands. The last thing both of us need is that I accidentally kill a fellow student."  
"Yes, that would be bad."  
"Do you still remember our roles?"  
"Yeah Ren, we are childhood friends, both of us attended Sentinel combat school. I was the troublemaker and you the perfect student...  
"The perfect student?"  
"Of course. Your hobby is studying. How can you be anything else but the perfect student?"  
What was wrong with studying? Everyone needed a hobby. I shrugged my shoulders. Perfect student or not, the moment we got into Beacon, it should not matter anymore. It was after all the place where the elite of the elites gathered. We should be able to blend in no problem by being part of the average crowd.  
"Your parent's names?"  
"My father is Thorfin Valkyrie and my mother Hilda Kellseffni and your parents names... Lie Hua An and Lie Ping?"  
"Lie Peng." I corrected. "Where did we grow up before Sentinel?"  
"Shelts, a small town on the outskirts of Atlas."  
Even after all these years, she was still incapable of completely throwing off her Atlesian accent when speaking the common vernacular. Fabricating the place of our childhood to be an Atlesian town should take care of that problem.  
My scroll gave off three distinct beeps. That was surprising.  
"Sorry, I have to take that."  
"Ooooh, is that your mysterious contact?"  
I opened my handheld and looked at the message: An invitation to a secure chat.  
"Yes."  
I activated my firewall and only left port 531 open. I pressed the 'accept' button.

##### \- Initialize -

 _seiryubolt has entered the chatroom._  
suzakuchick: Hi.  
seiryubolt: Hi. How secure is this room?  
suzakuchick: The server is hidden behind 6-8 proxies and they change every 5 minutes. Expect some lag.  
seiryubolt: You have physical access to the server?  
suzakuchick: Indirectly. A subordinate of mine. All our correspondence will be erased when we are finished.  
seiryubolt: Fair enough. What's up?  
suzakuchick: Fidelius is trying to smear your name. He is posting some really nasty things about you in some corner of the dark net.  
seiryubolt: You are already sabotaging him?  
suzakuchick: Of course.  
seiryubolt: That's nice of you.  
suzakuchick: ;)  
seiryubolt: I kind of expected him to do that. What does he claim?  
suzakuchick: You brutally beat him and his bodyguards up and just took his hard work without paying him a dime. It's the usual faunus self-victimization BS.  
seiryubolt: Good.  
suzakuchick: You prepared something?  
seiryubolt: I had placed a hidden camera. Should be proof enough. He was trying to extort more money by blackmailing me with information he deduced from the documents he forged. In the end, he did took the money we agreed upon - after I floored his muscled flunkies.  
suzakuchick: Do you want to post the video yourself?  
seiryubolt: No. I won't go into the dark net until I have secured a wireless hotspot and that will take some time. Accessing the dark net through Beacon Academy's wireless is tantamount to declaring myself a criminal.  
suzakuchick: You can always cover your tracks.  
seiryubolt: I don't have your hacking abilities.  
suzakuchick: You should have paid attention during cyber-warfare courses.  
seiryubolt: Stop gloating. You were not the best.  
suzakuchick: I know.  
seiryubolt: Will you post the video for me? You are already doing your memetic engineering to protect my face.  
suzakuchick: Sure. Send me the file to my usual message box.  
seiryubolt: Will do.  
suzakuchick: BTW, I changed my public key. Use this one.  
4905954954696884847437893478339832  
3893478737848398432342328494388439  
3274367564787487433489923092393909  
3875457587657894290930384758489443  
3894893404934489038430959059060960  
8923484757848948949430943093423208  
8329384775489548930232394855689031  
7347234648753899343209239020202394  
3894889339882399229383847478484575  
8923983983893892893034904203990237  
seiryubolt: Really? 330 digits? And I guess this monster is not a prime number.  
suzakuchick: I assure you that it is not. ;)  
seiryubolt: If you continue like this, I will have to upgrade my scroll. My hardware can barely keep up as it is... and I thought I was paranoid.  
suzakuchick: We learned from the best, but why don't you simply buy a new one?  
seiryubolt: I am a little broke right now.  
suzakuchick: I guess you will need a new contact in Vale once you have settled into your role as student?  
seiryubolt: You know someone good?  
suzakuchick: Yes, I do. He is a Hermit.  
seiryubolt: ...  
seiryubolt: ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?  
suzakuchick: I assure you that I am not. :3  
seiryubolt: This is not a joke.  
suzakuchick: He has not betrayed me to the organization... yet.  
seiryubolt: It's still a massive risk. And as a Hermit, he is not someone we can simply take out. He knows of our capabilities, our methods.  
suzakuchick: Sometimes, you simply have to trust.  
seiryubolt: That's rich, coming from you.  
suzakuchick: Now you are the one being hypocritical. Aren't we trusting each other?  
seiryubolt: But we are in the same boat.  
suzakuchick: Or so I claimed. But you have no way to verify it.  
seiryubolt: Playing devil's advocate?  
suzakuchick: Just making a point.  
seiryubolt: OK. How do I contact this Hermit?  
suzakuchick: Seek out a club called Junior's bar and give the owner the following pass-phrase: **The golden dragon lost its fifth claw battling the spawn of Yama.** His answer should be: **The saints cried rivers of azure, for the heaven's decree was lost.** After that ask for Senior.  
seiryubolt: I hope he is worth the risk.  
suzakuchick: The owner of Junior's bar is quite a respected information broker in Vale's underground, but he is a pale shadow compared to Senior.  
seiryubolt: Thank you, I guess.  
suzakuchick: *sigh* What would you do without me?  
seiryubolt: Flail around like an idiot in the darkness, oh mighty fledgling of a phoenix.  
suzakuchick. Flattery will get you everywhere.  
seiryubolt: Really?  
suzakuchick: Really.  
seiryubolt: Can I do something for you in return? I already owe you for your help during my time in Vacuo.  
suzakuchick: Stay alive. And don't worry. I will take my reward when the time is right.  
seiryubolt: That sounds kind of ominous.  
suzakuchick: Oh, stop fretting.  
seiryubolt: ...  
suzakuchick: ...  
seiryubolt: Bye. Take care.  
suzakuchick: You too.  
_suzakuchick has left the chatroom_  
_seiryubolt has left the chatroom_  


##### disconnect

We reached Beacon during the twilight, moments before the sun was setting. We said goodbye to the crew who cheered us on to become Huntsman worthy of the name so that we may protect the people. Nora basked in the well-wishes, but I could not help but feel conflicted. Then I turned around and looked at the majestic building.  
We made it.  
Beacon Academy. A place of power and one of the most secure places in the world. Hopefully this place will enable us to finally throw off the blood hounds hunting our scent. It was a tall order, but if there was one location in the whole world that could provide us with the resources and protection to do that, it should be here.  
When we reached the courtyard, both of us stopped at once, drinking in the sight and basking in the knowledge that this place would be our home for the next four years. Tall towers flanked the main building with its spire that touched the clouds, giving the illusion of embracing the space in front of it, making the whole school seem even more expansive than it already was.  
"Now that I think about it, you are now the same age as me, aren't you?"  
"On paper, yes."  
Nora was suddenly standing in front of me her face mere inches from mine.  
"You told me just yesterday that from now on we will have to play the identity game without any breaks, so no lip from you, Ren. You are as old as me now, a guy in the spring of youth, so from now on just enjoy yourself. No more doing responsible stuff all the time, no more Mr Serious 24/7. If I tell you to play, you play. If I tell you to make friends, you make friends, because frankly, you are a little bit unsociable." She zipped beside me again. "Not that you being unsociable is such a bad thing you know. It kinda adds to your stoic, cool, silent type and kinda makes you even more handsome..."  
"Okay..."  
"...Besides!" And just like that she was in front of my face again. "Do you want to contact ice-cream girl?"  
Ice-cream girl? Right. The mysterious woman, and Nora knew sign language. My conversation with the short female was in no way completely private. "I have no intention to associate with her."  
"Why did you save her card?"  
"Contacts can become useful when you are least expecting it."  
"Oh whatever, she seemed funny and a little bit creepy. If you change your mind and meet her, take me with you. We can make a big hand-weaving session and perhaps we can even convince her to stop the robberies. She seemed quite lonely. I think if she gets some friends, she could become a little bit nicer. Everyone becomes nicer, if they have more friends. It worked with you after all."  
And following these words she gave me a sunny smile. I could not help but smile back a little, though I suppressed it shortly after to continue the argument.  
"You saw her kill the crew member. The ease behind her movements."  
"And I probably killed three of the White Fang. You told me not to, but in the heat of battle I kinda threw them from the ship. Do you think they survived a drop from several hundred meters?"  
"No, but..."  
"Dead is dead. I don't think I am that much better than her."  
"You are wrong."  
"Really? I wonder why. I have so much blood on me after all."  
"Nora, stop it. We are here to leave all that behind."  
There was a long pause between us.  
She smiled and saluted. "Aye, aye, Ren."

Beacon Academy proved to be as big inside as it looked from the outside. The design had quite a retro feel to it. The decorations and style reminded me of architectural design discovered in archeological expeditions. What did the history books call it again? Gothic? The dominant color was a dark, somber green giving the whole interior a subdued atmosphere. I liked it. Green was one of my favourite colors, aside from pink of course.  
We wandered aimlessly through the corridors for about five minutes until a teacher suddenly barred our way. She was a statuesque blonde who made herself even taller by wearing high-heeled boots. She wore glasses which accentuated the no-nonsense expression on her face. She also carried what seemed to be a riding crop. I felt perplexed. What was it with women and weaponized accessories?  
She used her index and middle finger to push up her glasses, a hand gesture reminiscent of a sword seal. "Mr Ren and Ms Valkyrie I suppose?"  
She was obviously expecting us and seemed not the slightest bit surprised to have found us in this maze of corridors and halls. She was either an extremely good tracker or this school possessed some kind of surveillance system. Something to keep in mind. If there were cameras installed here, they were expertly concealed.  
"Right you are", cried Nora, waving both her arms in greeting. I merely nodded in confirmation.  
One of her eyebrows shot up, probably taking in our very opposing attitudes. "Well", she continued in a smooth voice, "I am glad that the both of you made it in time. Normally it should be the headmaster's duty to officially greet new students, but he is busy right now. There are still some preparations to be done for initiation. I hope you understand."  
"Of course", I replied earnestly.  
The teacher nodded in return. Then, she stood even straighter than before which was considerable, because if I were to classify her regular posture I would call it ram-rod-straight. "In that case, let me do the honors: My name is professor Glynda Goodwitch and I hereby welcome you to Beacon Academy."  
"Thank you".  
"Wow, thanks. So, Mrs Goodwatch, what do you teach here at Beacon?"  
And here she goes again.  
"Excuse me, Ms Valkyrie, but I would prefer it if you were to take some measures to use correct pronunciation especially when addressing other people's names."  
"Eh..."  
"Her name is Goodwitch, not Goodwatch."  
"Oh hehe sorry, professor." She scratched her head in embarrassment.  
I could practically feel Goodwitch's pupils dilate. Talk about clashing personalities.  
"To answer your question, Ms Valkyrie, I am the HvH combat instructor and head-administrator of the library."  
That caught my interest. Whatever this Academy had to teach me, I will probably never excel at slaying Grimm. Fighting other Huntsmen or Huntresses on the other hand was an entirely different matter. This teacher was the one who could help me most in furthering my specialization. She was of course also the same person who I will have to deceive the most when it came to my true capabilities in fighting my fellow human beings.  
"The rest of the first-year students are already resting in the ball-room. It is located in the main hall in the West Wing of the school. You can't miss it. You will also find mattresses and blankets to borrow there. Dormitories and scrolls will be distributed after initiation. Are there any other questions?"  
I shook my head. "Thank you for your time, professor."  
"And I wish the both of you a restful night. You will need it." She turned on her heels and walked away at a brisk pace.  
"Huuuh, so that's a teacher."  
You talk about them like they were some alien species.  
"She seemed kind of stiff. But Ren, did you see her figure?"  
What are you? An old lecherous guy?  
"I wonder if I will ever grow those kind of hips. Perhaps I should eat more."  
"Nora, I doubt that more nutrients will automatically result in... wider hips. The fat could also be deposited elsewhere."  
"Like?"  
"Your belly for example."  
"Ren," she was standing before me again, her eyes squinted and her ever-present smile conspicuously absent, "are you saying that I am fat?"  
"No. I am merely pointing out the possibility if you were to further increase your daily caloric intake."  
"Aaaahh", she suddenly started to pound her fists against my chest. Painfully at that. "Ren you insensitive jerk. You don't talk like that when it comes to a girl's weight. You hear me? That's a big no no!"  
And the countless mysterious ways of the female mind left me confounded again. I mean, wasn't she the one who wanted to grow wider hips? Which would of course also lead to an increase in weight? So what exactly was the problem?  
Whatever it was that agitated her so much, it resulted in one of those very rare occasions when Nora actively avoided me. She was walking ahead not sparing me a single glance. Her arms were folded and I could almost picture the pout she was probably making.  
Of course, due to her mercurial mood and bright personality Nora never managed to hold a grudge for very long. I think her personal record for staying cross with me was three minutes and forty-three seconds.

The ballroom was indeed easy to find and despite the advanced hour the place was busting with activity and qi-signatures. The hairs on my neck were standing up and all my ingrained reflexes were crying danger. I clenched my fist to keep them from shaking and continuously recited a mantra in my head to slow down my pulse.  
It took awhile, but my mind finally managed to convince my body that I was not in immediate danger of being surrounded, mobbed and eviscerated.  
"What are you spacing out for Ren?"  
Easy for you to say. Stepping openly into a room filled with about three dozens of people with bigger qi-pools than myself usually spelled bloody murder. There was only one thing worse than encountering a stronger enemy who was also alert and that was a whole group of alert people stronger than me. If all the students in this room suddenly turned into enemies, they would tear me into ribbons.  
Stop it. Reign in your paranoia. This is a protected place. A safe place. A place of learning, not of bloodshed. No hostilities. NO hostilities.  
I walked towards the last uninhabited corner in the big room, dragging Nora alongside me.  
"Hey Ren, shouldn't we go where most of the other students are gathered? We should make some friends."  
And expose our flanks and backs?  
"No."  
"Oh, don't be a party-pooper."  
"Look, Nora. I won't be able to sleep without covering my back. If you want to socialize please go ahead."  
With these words I sat down and propped myself against the wall, still trying to calm my fraying nerves. It took me several moments to realize that I forgot to take any sleeping gear. It took me another moment to realize that Nora was nowhere to be seen only for her to appear right before me. She was carrying two sets of dark green mattresses, violet pillows and yellow blankets. The colors clashed like crazy, but I could not help but smile at her forethought. We made our makeshift beds in silence. "Are you still mad?", she asked.  
"I am not mad at all. Just really, really nervous."  
Nora gave me a quizzical look."You may be antisocial, but meeting new people usually don't turn you into a flustered mess."  
Is that how I look to you right now? Quite embarrassing.  
"Its not the people. Its the sheer quantity of superior qi-pools."  
Nora finally seemed to understand. "Your old ninja habits kicking in?"  
"More or less. I hate to be outnumbered and outgunned, especially in the open."  
She propped herself beside me. "Ren, if we want to keep playing this identity game, there is something you need to change."  
Nora being the voice of reason? Has hell frozen over?  
"What do you mean?"  
"Stop talking about qi, and jen..."  
"Jin."  
"Yeah, whatever and midichlorians..."  
Stop mixing up reality and fiction. "Meridians."  
"You see? I can't even spell all these fancy-schmancy-mystic words right. Nobody will understand you. Just talk about Aura."  
One of the biggest conundrums I faced after escaping the organization was that the rest of the world did not know about the concept of qi or the precepts of yin and yang which governed the flow of energy through the meridians. The rest of the world knew nothing of jin and shen, the constituents of the spiritual and the interrelationship with the physical. Instead they went and attributed phenomena of superhuman feats to the existence of Aura.  
Nora seemed to think that Qi and Aura were just two different words to describe the same thing.  
She was wrong. Words were the vessels of concepts and ideas. They carried a power of their own and by compressing everything into the single idea of 'Oh, it was Aura that did it', the rest of the world trivialized a highly complex part of our being.  
As I mentioned before, Nora's qi-pool was about three to four times my size. If she could couple that with my expertise in qi-manipulation she would be... a total monster. I had tried to teach her, but beside some basic qinggong and yinggong she lacked the patience to acquire more sophisticated skills. But who knows? Perhaps this school could instill some measure of discipline into her where I had previously failed. She was only seventeen and had a whole lifetime ahead to improve and refine herself.  
I started to sound like an old man.  
"I am hungry. Where is the kitchen, Ren? We should have asked that broad-hipped teacher about the kitchen."  
I sighed, opened my backpack and took out a pink lunchbox. Inside were about a dozen steamed dumplings. The food was cold, but it should still be tasty.  
"Ren, you liar. You told me during the flight that we were out of food."  
Guess why?  
"Oh well, I forgive you. You are still the best", and with those words she started to stuff her mouth.  
"Nora, please, never ever call Mrs Goodwitch 'broad-hipped teacher' to her face."  
"Whyot?", she said.  
"Nora, don't talk with your mouth full."  
"Why not? Her hips are awesome."  
Sometimes, her lack of common sense was truly staggering.  
"Nora, reducing other persons to their anatomical characteristics can lead to sexual objectification which people in general and woman in particular are not very fond of, so for your own sake, just refer to her as Mrs Goodwitch."  
"Okay Ren." She continued to stuff her mouth with dumplings.  
Why do I even try?

I opened my eyes. Pain shot through them, making me flinch. Stupid contact lenses probably dried out, but changing them yesterday was out of the question in a room full of people. When my sight finally focused the first thing I saw was Nora's smiling face.  
"Wake up lazy-butts."  
She started to zip around me like a rodent on a sugar-high.  
"It's morning, it's morning, it's morning, it's morning..."  
I got that the first time.  
"I can't believe we have been here at Beacon for a full 24 hours..."  
14 hours and 45 minutes. She never was good at calculating.  
"...but it's not like I thought we would be kicked out, I mean you are the perfect student,"  
She was already starting to ease into our new identities, but really: The perfect student? It's the first time we were attending a genuine school period. I received quite an extensive education when I was a kid, but the institution I was in could hardly be called a school.  
"...and I, I am me."  
No further comment. I started to brush my teeth while scanning the washroom. Still too many onlookers to change my contacts and my eyes were giving me hell.  
"We have been friends for soooo long..."  
More like partners in crime. I rinsed and wiped my mouth and went into the ballroom again to pack the sleeping gear we borrowed. I noticed that most students left their mattresses and blankets strewn around, but that was just impolite.  
"... and what are the odds that we would still be together?"  
Pretty high considering the fact that protecting your life was currently my main reason for living.  
"Not that we are together together."  
And what was that supposed to mean?  
"It's not like I want to say that you are not handsome, because you are handsome."  
Could someone please explain her line of logic - wait, was she talking about...  
"Because that would just be weird, right?"  
Yup, considering our age difference. Five years were pretty much if one part of the relationship was a teenager and the other one a fully grown adult. If both of us were ten years older, nobody would bat an eyelash at the five year gap, but...  
I vanquished the thought. I did not spare her back then to groom me a wife. Making our way into Beacon should provide her the means to lead a free, responsible and most of all independent life. The means to rob our current partnership of its necessity.  
We reached the school cafeteria and after some small deliberation loaded both our trays with pancakes and a good helping of maple syrup.  
It was the one item on the menu that was sweet and hot. Shame though that there was no respectable tea to be found. Cultural barbarians, using tea-bags to spoil perfectly good water.  
And my eyes were still hurting.  
"What was I thinking?"  
A question for the ages. I watched her inhale one of the pancakes whole and quickly returned to my own meal. It was far too early to parent her on eating habits and considering that we were technically the same age now I should probably put a stop on my nagging.  
"So, I hope we end up on the same team together."  
Right. Teams. One of the main features of academy-grade combat schools. Due to some strange obsession with the number four, the four combat academies in the four main kingdoms deployed hunter-teams of four persons.  
Call it cultural bias, but I simply could not help but associate the number four with death.  
"Oooh, we should come up with some sort of plan, so we end up on the same team together."  
And how were we supposed to come up with a plan, if we were not even aware of the team selection process in the first place? I eavesdropped on some of the students yesterday, but everything I got was a bunch of contradictory information. Apparently, the exact details on how the teams were created changed every year to keep people guessing.  
"What if we bribe that Headmaster?"  
Bad idea.  
"No he has a school. That won't work."  
Disaster averted. We went to our lockers to retrieve our weapons.  
"Oh I know, we should have some sort of signal. Like a distress signal or a secret signal, so we can find each other in the forest."  
I tipped the code on the holographic interface, opened the door and took out the pair of bladed sub machine-guns.  
"Can you imitate a sloth?"  
I raised my arms and let the weapons slide into my sleeves. "Nora, I don't think sloths make a lot of noise."  
"That's why it's perfect. Nobody will suspect that we are working together."  
Right. Nobody will suspect a thing. Especially not after you monologued the entirety of our rehearsed relationship to all first year students in the vicinity.  
"Let's go Nora."  


###### ** [WOR] **

**World of Remnant addendum: The four Kingdoms - Citizen tiers**

Remnant is a perilous world that only allows humans to thrive on very limited space. Resources, living space, the right to have children, despite declaring themselves to be so called democratic governments, all four kingdoms have tight restrictions placed on the aforementioned privileges. The Citizen tier is a ubiquitous system with four levels and as with so many things in civilized society it is the contribution of the individual to the overall greater good that determines his or her place along the food chain.  
As the old saying goes: All citizens are equal, but some citizens are more equal than others.  
The first and highest tier is reserved for top-scientists and engineers, the most successful businessmen or women, high placed officers in the military and police, successful politicians and people who are really, really rich. And let us not forget the Huntsmen and Huntresses. All in all, tier one citizens make up about 0.8 percent of the general population. Privileges are as follows: The right to own up to 1000 square meters of private property, to have up to 4 children without any repercussions, to own a maximum of three large vehicles for private purposes. In addition the vote of a tier one citizen is ten times the worth of a tier three or four vote.  
Life in the second tier is still quite enjoyable. Members of the police or the military automatically belong to this tier as well as members of the medical profession and all non-Hunters who perform work or duties related to fighting the Grimm. Otherwise, one needs an official yearly income that is at least among the upper ten percent of the respective nation. All in all, tier two citizens make up 12 - 17 % of the general population depending on the kingdom. Privileges are as follows: The right to own up to 150 square meters of private property, to have up to two children without repercussion, to own a maximum of two small vehicles for private purposes. The vote of tier two citizens is three times the worth of a tier three or four vote.  
Tier three citizenship is the social strata that consists of what is often called the masses. Be it middle or low income, people belonging to tier three are generally the ones that are referred to as 'civilians' by military personnel and Hunters. The sheep that are to be protected. The little men and women cowering in the shadow of the so called guardians of the world. They make up 60 - 67 % of the overall population. Their privileges are as follows: The right to own up to 40 square meters of private property, to have one child without repercussion, to own one small vehicle for private purposes after a special application has been accepted. Their vote is not weighted.  
Tier four is reserved for the dregs of society - unemployed people sustaining themselves on the meager social services that the kingdoms provide, formerly convicted criminals who return into the cross-hair of public administration and watchers, people with disabilities and for quite some time every faunus who had the misfortune of living in one of the four kingdoms no matter his or her contributions. The White Fang was originally founded in the context of allowing faunus to freely move up the citizen tiers, but it was only after the once peaceful organization turned to violence and terror that the kingdoms of Haven and Vacuo allowed their faunus citizens to move up to tier three. Vale is currently in the process of negotiating a similar treaty while Atlas refuses to budge on their stance that all faunus only belong to the lowest tier of society. Privileges or the lack thereof are as follows: No right to own any private property. The maximum allotted living space that can be rented cannot exceed 20 square meters per person. No right to own any kind of mechanized vehicle for private purposes. Even having one offspring is heavily discouraged and tuition for children of tier four citizens is obligatory even when going to public funded schools. Their vote is not weighted. 

_The Mysterious Narrator_

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Number four and death: In Chinese both the character for four (四) as well as death (死) are pronounced si. While it's not a perfect homophone due to Chinese being a polytonal language, Chinese people still have a high aversion towards the number. One example of this aversion is the fact that hospitals often lack a fourth floor.
> 
> Qinggong (轻功): Can be translated roughly as 'light skill'. The usage of qi to decrease body mass, so that one can perform gravity defying acts of agility and speed. In the world of Remnant most Hunters in training increase body strength for their big jumps, but veteran Hunters are encouraged to decrease their own mass. In martial art films, feats of qinggong are achieved by the usage of wires, a concept that was popularized in the west by the matrix trilogy and afterward dubbed 'wire-fu'. There exist real life versions of qinggong throughout lots of fighting styles, but if I were to use a Western example of what qinggong looks like in reality just watch parkour.
> 
> Yinggong (硬功): Hard skill. The usage of qi to increase toughness of the body. While most fighters with trained Auras (or qi) are protected from harm as long as their Aura is not depleted, this is pretty much an unconscious act of the body. Yinggong refers to the conscious channeling of qi to raise resilience to levels that surpass what is possible by merely having qi or Aura circulate the body as is seen with most fights in RWBY. One character who probably uses yinggong in canon (or whatever it is called in Aura-related terms) is the Lieutenant in season 2 who hands Weiss her pretty little ass.


	4. Beating big snakes to death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Through the eyes of an assassin - a RWBY fanfiction  
> This chapter is quite short and is mostly a rehash of canon material. Honestly, Beacon initiation has been regurgitated hundreds of time in RWBY fandom and I am quite tempted to simply skip the whole affair with a couple of sentences. Still, when it comes to Ren and Nora, one could argue that there are some blanks in what is shown in canon.

I was standing on a launching platform holding my weapons. I would like to say that I was mentally preparing myself to be launched into a forest full of vicious Grimm, that I was psyching myself up to confront the opposition, but Initiation or Grimm could not be further from my mind, because I was confronted with a phenomenon outside my understanding.  
The source of my confusion was one professor Ozpin.  
After leaving the organization and learning about the general ignorance concerning everything related to qi, I also discovered very quickly that most people were incapable or very bad at sensing qi levels; at least in comparison to me. After arriving at Beacon I was kind of curious about the level of sophistication regarding qi-sensing that my peers could display, but none of them seemed even the least bit psyched out by Ozpin's presence.  
Perhaps I should not be hasty in my judgment. Me and Nora were late, so both of us missed this man's entrance speech. Perhaps that opportunity was sufficient for the other students to get used to this man's qi.  
Or should I say, his complete and utter lack of qi.  
The man was a ghost. A spectre. An invisible being without substance floating amidst the grand flow of energy that suffused and sustained live. He was air, nothingness. Physical existence combined with complete absence of spiritual existence.  
And the thought of him turning into an enemy almost scared me into submission. Good thing Ozpin was widely regarded as a force of virtue and lawfulness. Otherwise I would have probably lost it here and there.  
It was of course impossible. A being that was neutral in regards to qi did not exist. The living radiated qi, the Grimm sucked it in. Like electrons that wandered from plus to minus. Like the flow between Yin and Yang. Therefore, the man was concealing his signature. Perfectly. I did not think it possible, but no matter how much I strained my third eye, no matter how much further I stretched my meridian network to the outside, I felt nothing at the place where the current head of Beacon Academy was supposedly standing.  
Not even my master was capable of this level of qi concealment, and she was a certified monster.  
"...do not hesitate to destroy anything in your path or you will die."  
Oh nice. I overheard the beginning of his speech. What was it again? The first person you make eye contact with became your partner? That made things easy.  
"You will be monitored and graded..."  
In other words, there will be surveillance drones swarming across the whole forest. Great. So, no special qi attacks and no inconspicuous changing of my contact lenses. At least the pain in my eyes had become a little bit more bearable.  
"...for the duration of the initiation, but our instructors will not intervene."  
Interesting. So its sink or swim. Rumors about cases of death during previous initiations did not sound that exaggerated anymore.  
"You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff."  
That again sounds easy enough.  
"We will guard that item as well as your standing and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"  
"Yeah, ah sir."  
A blonde haired boy wearing a white breast plate raised his hand awkwardly. Now this guy was a curiosity, too. While all the other students had their qi enveloping and dynamically flowing the inside and outside of their bodies and in some cases the weapons they carried, this guy's qi was resting solely inside his body. Like a big peaceful reservoir, for his pool was massive. I strained my third eye again, trying to scry deeper into his spirit. I felt pure, unblemished energy. He probably had more qi to throw around than Nora and she was already a beast.  
"Good, now take your position", Ozpin cut off the boy.  
I readied myself. As did the other students except the blonde.  
Indeed a curiosity. If I did not know it better, I would say that he behaved like someone who was way out of his element. On the other hand, nerves could do that to you.  
"Ah sir, I have got a question."  
Had to be an important one.  
"So, this landing strategy thing, what is it? Like, do you drop us off or something?"  
Was he for real?  
"No, you will be falling."  
"Oh, I see", the boy said. An awkward pause followed and Nora was launched into the air.  
"So did you hand out parachutes..."  
And then I was flying, too.  
Landing was a cinch. I briefly thought about using qinggong to dampen the inertia and jump across the trees, but letting myself fly forward would just increase the distance between me and Nora. Instead, I deployed the hook blades mounted on my twin pistols and used them to slide along the axis of a big tree.  
That took me back to the old days. The days when I was still using a naked blade to fight – and to kill. I patted of some dirt from my sleeves and hid the twin pistols again. Force of habit, but I never felt quite comfortable as long as my weapons were out in display.  
I looked up and saw another one of the students who was still flying. Another blonde and judging from her enthusiastic cries she was having the time of her life. I could not tell more from such a cursory glance, but I should have more than enough opportunities after initiation to learn everything I wanted from my classmates. I started to walk towards Nora's qi signature. After so many years spotting her energy among the various threads of life had become second nature to me.  
I moved through the forest and its uneven terrain like a shadow taking heed not to disturb the wildlife or the vegetation. The qi sucking voids of Grimm were all around me, but I managed to evade almost all of them. Nora was moving steadily towards my position. Unfortunately, there was another signature following me. It was a big void, overshadowing the rich life force of the forest. It gained traction, speed and the nearer it came the more I could picture its gnawing instincts in my mind: Hunger. Greed. An aching desire to devour. I could try to outrun this Grimm, but I was not confident that increasing the speed of my shadowwalk would enable me to pass all the others without alerting them to my presence.  
Instead, I stopped and waited straining all my senses to the limit.  
It was upon me. I could even hear the rustling of the leafs and bushes. The next moment a snake the size of a tunnel began its assault, curling its gigantic body around me, topping its tube-like body onto itself until I was surrounded by walls of black flesh. My escape routes were cut off. I sighed inwardly. Just my luck to run into an ancient King Taijitu.  
I took my empty-handed stance before I stopped myself. Weapons first. I was after all being monitored. My hesitation cost me a precious second of time. I saw out of the corner of my eye how the snake was opening its maw, ready to swallow me whole.  
I started my combat breathing pattern. Enriching my blood with qi, letting the energy suffuse my bones and picturing my body to be as weightless as a leaf in the wind. I jumped out of the confines of the snake body, turned my body at the peak of my arc and let my twin pistols spit fire.  
The bullets turned out to be nothing more but a nuisance and when the big toothy head lunged at me, I turned my body again in mid-flight to snap a kick at the monster. This time, my attack did have an effect. The head of the King Taijitu crashed down. The moment my feet touched the ground I leaped towards my enemy and struck it another blow with my blades.  
The damage was negligible, though I only had myself to blame. The Grimm did not care either way and lunged at me again. I jumped out of the way and watched the beast crash against the ground, saw it became stuck for a second, while I felt the air rush around me.  
I rolled in mid-flight and used gravity to enhance the hammer-blow which I dealt with both my weapons. I felt the blades sunk deep into the neck of the monster. Very satisfying.  
That was easier than I thought, or so I wished, but the tricky part about a Taijitu was that they were never ever alone. I heard the tell-tale slithering sound and there it was – the second head, ready to maim, ready to strike.  
I cartwheeled out of the way and saw to my dismay that the first head managed to shrug off the damage again, and now it was two against one. Never heard of fair-play, guys?  
Evading two attacking snake heads turned out to be quite difficult. I tried to force them into blind spots by running along their shared body, all the while strafing them with bullets, but the hide was too thick for the firearms to do any good. My feet lost their traction on the slippery scales for a moment and that second of hesitation allowed the white Taijitu to tackle me to the ground.  
My qi barrier absorbed most of the damage, but the sudden shock made me lose my grip on my weapons. When I stood up while still feeling dazed the black Taijitu struck home.  
I cried out to suppress my fear and pumped my qi to the palms of my hand, watching straight into a wide open maw, big enough to swallow me whole.  
I pushed and pushed and the strength of my barrier produced pink flickers of energy. A deadlock and I had to get out of it fast. But what to do against an enemy superior in force? I could almost picture my master roll her eyes at the triviality of the question.  
The core precept of taijiquan: Use the force of the enemy against himself.  
Yin and Yang, push and pull, wax and wane. Even a gigantic beast is subject to actio and reactio, the agonism and antagonism of muscular movement. I strained my haptic sense, finding the exact moment when the snake head pulled slightly back to push again. I reduced the qi output on my palms letting the energy envelope my hands like a glove and then -  
I strengthened my arms, grabbed its fangs and ripped them out. My arms flowed with the ripping motion and guided my torso out of the way of the snake's pushing attack and when my arms finished a full circle it felt like the fangs I was gripping sunk themselves into the soft red eye of the Grimm.  
I inhaled sharply and constricted my dantian, squeezing energy and directing it to my right palm. A thrust, a feeling of emptiness as my qi was sucked into the head of the Grimm followed by bloody annihilation. Watching Grimm heads blown into smithereens was a sight that never got old.  
I calmed down my breath, felt the adrenaline dissipate.  
If what the headmaster said was true, this whole fight had been recorded. Talk about bad luck, but that was still better than dying.  
I locked my sight on the white Taijitu and took my empty handed stance. What was done, was done. Fighting this monster with these weapons was simply too much of a risk. I dashed towards the remaining head and watched it rear back and lunge. I cartwheeled and struck the head a glancing blow with my left palm, feeling the disturbed air of the attack tickle my skin. As my feet landed I leaped towards the neck of the white beast. I saw it turn its head but before it could muster its strength I dealt it my second palm strike. The white Taijitu froze like it was paralyzed and then, slowly, it felt over like a gigantic puppet whose strings were cut. Itchor started to flow out of its maw staining its red-forked tongue midnight black.  
I breathed out heavily and slowed my blood flow. That was a costly fight. My energy pool was down to one-fourth of its capacity and I felt some strain on my respiratory organs, namely heart and lung. Nothing serious, but after initiation I would have to rest for two days while replenishing and purifying my qi.  
I went to pick up my pistols and let them slide into my sleeves. That was when I heard a strange cooing sound. The next moment a orange haired girl stuck out of the foliage with her whole body hanging upside down.  
"Nora, I still don't think that's what a sloth sounds like."  
She stuck out her index finger and lightly tapped me on the nose.  
"Boop." She quibbed.  
I could not help but smile a little.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glossary  
> Yin and Yang (阴/阳): Considering the symbolism behind the King Taijitu, I think it fitting to elaborate a bit on this particular concept. The Yin/Yang symbol - a circle with one half white/black in addition to one black dot on the white half and on white dot on the black half - is mostly associated with Martial Arts in the West, but that is really the tip of the iceberg. Yin/Yang is also important in Daoist teachings and philosophy, traditional Chinese medicine and even influenced certain Japanese schools of thought and mysticism like Onmyōdō.  
> If I were to sum it up, the core teaching of Yin and Yang is the interdependence of polar opposites. Daoist scholars looking at the world are usually of the opinion that things like good vs evil, black morality vs white morality are not a matter of absolutes but of perception. An example: The only reason the hero of a story (like Ruby) considers herself one of the good guys is because she puts herself in opposition to bad guys like Torchwick or Cinder and vice versa. Basically, the only reason she can be a hero is because she has villains to defeat. We as readers (or consumers) of the story stand on the outside of the narration and therefore have an easy time to look at the good faction or bad faction as something separate, but a Daoist scholar would argue that this separation which we express through 'labels' like good/evil, Hunter/villain is a mere illusion.  
> In other words, Daoist teachings do not concentrate on what makes the 'good' or 'evil' side different, because that would just exacerbate the depth of the illusion, but focus instead on how both sides influence each other, their inter-connectivity and how they are different aspects of a whole. The old saying about two sides of the same coin applies here.  
> Qi also gets separated between Yin-Qi and Yang-Qi, a distinction that is very important in traditional Chinese medicine - and that gets further differentiated under the system of Wuxing (the five elements). What is important to note in Remnant is that the concept of Aura is far less exact or defined than the Qi system which is the reason why Ren can manipulate Aura/Qi better than almost every canon character. But fear not, every school of thought has its advantages and disadvantages and there is a very serious flaw in the whole Qi-system.


	5. Bang bang boom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This chapter will be told from Nora's perspective. It will probably be a one-time thing. Getting into Nora's mind is certainly not conducive to my mental stability.

Beowolves are really easy to bat around. I just need to take my body behind the swing and voilà - they fly. There is also this really black, greyish sound, when my hammer hits. It pops up and vanishes just as quickly. I think Ren would call it a crunching sound, it usually happens when my beloved Magnhild manages to break something.  
Bones, muscles, armor, helmets...  
and then there is this slightly pinkish brown bubble noise - I think its called squelching, like when you stomp on meaty insects like magworms which is totally disgusting by the way. When Magnhild produces this pinkish sound it harmonizes well with the pink paint on my hammer, though I really don't like the brown spots that appear alongside it. Pure pink rules.  
And if the pulping is very thorough, I get a good helping of darkish red. That kinda fits with the brown-pink theme, but only if I look at the colors in a way as if they are haloing the body of the one I pulped.  
Its very pretty that way, I would even call it artsy and I totally like to browse through art books with illustrations of what Ren calls surrealism and impressionism. Looking at those pictures tells me that there are other people like me who look at the world in a similar way, full of dynamic visions of coloration and light that swirl and slither and burst and blend around the vision of everything when its devoid of sound. Ren once told me that the world my eyes see when its completely silent is reality as he sees it.  
Sometimes, I wonder if that is true. Perhaps I am seeing things that are really here while he is blind to them. He himself sees a lot of things that other people are blind to. Like that Qi-thingy he always talks about which is totally Aura by the way.  
Back to batting around Beowolves. I am down to only two and I still haven't destroyed all trees near me. Ohh, one of them attacks, but the way they stumble around is really cute and highlights their uselessness, because they telegraph their movements so openly that I would have to be blindfolded not to see it a mile coming.  
Okay. Note to myself. Next time I go Beowolf batting, I need to bring a blindfold as a handicap. It's only fair.  
Oops, a close one. That attack almost grazed me. Quite a stubborn fellow that. I flip Magnhild around my neck to let it gain momentum and redirect the force and there is the crunching sound again, the moment the hammerhead sinks into flesh, the moment when elasticity is still absorbing the force of my blow, the moment when I still have some control over where I aim my Beowolf-pitch... and wowza - it flies like a sped-up cannonball and smashes right into a tree and  
another one and  
another one...  
and the world explodes in fragments of orange and blue static, stirred up by black and gray flecks as wood splinters and bursts. I continue to count as my Beowolf-cannonball takes down one tree after another and the remaining Grimm tries another swipe at me, but my hammer is already there to smash upwards against his elbow. His arm gets redirected and he howls out in pain and the orange, blue static switches out with red whitish mist that wafts around which means that this stupid Beowolf just interrupted Queen Nora when she was playing her baseball-bowling game of awesome.  
That cries for vengeance, so I crane my neck, pump up my back muscles until they tingle and snap my upper body towards the stupid Grimm while imagining myself to be a crossbow that got released.  
Ren always tells me to visualize something fitting when I perform my coolest attacks and I am really, really good at visualization and my attack must have been awesome, because the Beowolf gets catapulted like a bullet until it tears down some seven to eight trees and three bushes. Pretty good shot and without Magnhild no less.  
"Ren, how many trees did I shot down with my last pitch?"  
I hear him sigh. Weak yellow-greenish sound. One of his sighs that he does not really mean, but still utters because he thinks he needs to keep me in line. He is nice like that - in a stuffy and overly stoic kind of way. "The one you hit with your hammer or the one you headbutted?" He sounds completely deadpan.  
I grin. "The hammer-pitch of course."  
"Fifteen." I can hear his barely suppressed exasperation. I don't even need the extra colors to pick up on that.  
I pump up my fist and let out a cry of victory. I broke my own record.  
"Nora, let's go. We need to find the relics."  
So it's back to work again. Boring. "Yes, Ren."  
We walk through a tunnel of brilliant green. The only sound surrounding us is the rustling of leaves and the soft stirrings of the wind. I skip a little and am doubly proud of myself that I hardly make any sound at all. Ren walks in his totally noiseless way that must be part of his former ninja-training. Honestly, if he has never showed me how to feel other people's presences, he could sneak up on me any time he wants to.  
That would be embarrassing. Especially when I am daydreaming.  
And don't be nosy. I won't tell you about my daydreams.  
So back to us sneaking like pros through the Emerald forest. We make good headway, moving like shadows through the stream of green, until we stumble upon flecks of black again.  
Yay, another pack of Ursas to play with and as always, they are totally oblivious to our presence. I don't want to brag, but I always manage to sneak up on Grimm.  
"Nora, please, let us ignore them."  
I attack him with my best pout, but he barely flinches.  
"The faster we get out the better. I don't want to meet something we can't deal with."  
"What about combining work and pleasure?"  
He frowns. "Meaning?"  
"Let's use these Ursas as mounts. That way, I get to play with them and we also make headway to our destination."  
He stays silent for quite a long time. I can almost imagine how the clockwork of his mind is turning around and around, until it overclocks. "Are you serious?" His voice produces a blue wave. No, its closer to azure, with silver flickers. He is starting to lose his cool and his nerves are starting to fray.  
No matter what happens, I will ride an Ursa now and if its just to see his reaction.  
It will be sooo hilarious.  
"Last one to reach the ruin is a chicken."  
I tuck Magnhild on my back and run towards the biggest Ursa in the pack.  
"Nora, no!" I hear him following after me and for the first time, his steps are making noises. Is he actually panicking? How fun!  
I make a leap of joy and land on the bony spiky back of the big black teddy bear. I mean, come on, they are kinda cuddly in a nightmarish way.  
And yes, I totally dig horror flicks.  
Now, how to actually steer them? Could be tricky, because the Ursa is shaking around and growling and don't you even try to throw me off, buddy - I hold the official record on the rodeo game back in Central Vacuo and there: I rip out one of its spikes and the soft flesh underneath is showing.  
Let's show you who is boss. I ball my hand to a fist and punch right into the black bleeding mass. The long agonizing howl that follows is aptly colored black. It's still thrashing around. Stubborn one. Now how about another taste of pain? More black howling that starts to fill out my vision and another punch. Oooh, it's finally yielding. Smart boy. I hold on two of his spikes two gain leverage and dig my feet into his lower back.  
Yay, it starts to run. No, wrong direction. I pull on the spike that is near its left shoulder and it correctly changes direction. No, too much to the left, now a slight pull on the spike in my right hand. That's a good boy.  
Run Ursa, run!  
This is almost like playing a video game. I wonder why there are not more people doing the same.  
I hear him calling out to me, his voice now a bright turquoise. He is totally panicking. The other Ursas all start to attack him while ignoring me, because I am having the time of my life.  
Hmm, now I am feeling a teensy little bad for ribbing him up and dumping all the Grimm-cleaning on him.  
Nah, he can deal with that. Some five to six Ursas shouldn't even slow him down much.  
I continue my joyride through the forest while steering my mount for maximum damage. The resulting cascades of blue and orange sparks dance madly along the sound of splintering wood and the violent rustling of leaves as tree after tree gets topped by the mighty swipes of the big Ursa.  
And that was tree number thirty-five that fell victim to my riding. I am sooo good and there is a clearing. I see the light becoming brighter, the first glimpses of stone buildings and now for the touchdown:  
I unfold my beloved Magnhild, prime one of its grenades and tap the hammerhead gently against the open wound. When the grenade goes off, the resulting force snaps my weapon and it buries itself deep into the backside of the black bear. I feel the heat and the pink-red of the explosion wash over me, but to my Aura it's nothing. As the massive body of the Ursa crashes into the ground, I use the momentum to roll over its shoulder.  
The beast lays still on the ground, its tongue lolling out and its back completely wrecked.  
"Oooh, it's broken."  
I step on top of its head just to make sure. Yeah, not getting up again.  
I look up from the downed Ursa and see some people standing around the ruins. And beside them are the artifacts. I hear a faint 'Nora', but I am already running towards the artifacts. Now, let's look them up and close - hmm, ponies, figures with crosses and...  
"Uhhh", I take the golden figure and put it on top of my head, brandishing my spoil of war for the world to see. "I'm Queen of the Castle, I'm Queen of the Castle."  
"NORA!" Oi, that shout was ultramarine blue – with flecks of red and yellow. It has been some time since he raised his voice like that. I salute him while letting the golden Castle slide from my head so that I can deftly catch it with my other hand. I am Queen Nora and a golden castle is only fitting for me.  
"Coming, Ren." I skip towards him and that's when another crashing sound comes from the other side of the forest. A girl in armor and the most gorgeous red hair is running to us, a big Deathstalker hot in pursuit. Then, a bundle of red jumps down from the nearby trees. A really adorable bundle of red who does a really cool side roll.  
"Ruby?" Mixture of red and white, with very round and golden swirls.  
When the red hooded girl sees the one with massive yellow hair, both raise their arms in greeting.  
"Yang." Mixture of green and orange with sparks of silver.  
Oh forget Ren. I need to complete this.  
"Nora." I cry out while putting myself right between them and as expected, both of them give off the most adorable yelp of surprise. A nice bubbly pink sound tinged with gold.  
"Did that girl just ran all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?" A smooth calm voice. Very soft, almost velvet in feel. And the gradual darkening of violet fits her just nicely. Oh, these people are so colorful. I am already giddy just thinking about befriending them.  
"I can't take it ANYMORE." The blonde girl explodes and a small gout of flame erupts around my vision and around her... wait, the colors should appear around the edges of my vision, not so close to the body of the one who speaks.  
„Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?"  
The flames just keep appearing, even as her voice calms down a little to the red and white mixture that she initially had. Is that for real? She can actually make real flames appear around her like a totally badass halo?  
I am sooo befriending her. And that adorable red riding hood, and then we will paint our nails and talk about cute boys.  
Oh day-dreaming bliss.  
And Ren has finally caught up to us. He is holding his sides and seems out of breath. When I was riding that Ursa I saw from the corner of my eye how he blew up the heads of some leftover Grimm by using his bare palms, so basically, he was doing his Qi-thingy again which always drains him. Sometimes I wish I could do that, too. He always says that all the skills he uses can be learned by anyone and if I could do it, I would be totally unbeatable.  
But the practice that comes with the whole Qi-thingy is soooo boring.  
"Eh, Yang?" It's the red riding hood again, who points skywards. I put my finger around my eyes for some makeshift farseeing googles. Is that another girl who hangs on the claws of a Nevermore? How in the world did she even manage to get up there?  
What a curious bunch.  
„I said jump." Little Red says.  
„She is gonna fall." Miss velvet voice says.  
„She is going to be fine." Little Red is quite an optimist.  
„She is falling." Ren deadpans.  
Yup, she is falling and even with Aura, landing from this kind of height can hurt... a lot. But when she is almost hitting the ground another guy in white breastplate and baby-blue eyes catches her mid-flight. Not that it helps them much, as he did not put enough force into his jump to mitigate the inertia from her fall, so instead both of them slam down to the ground with the girl in white falling on top of the guy.  
Oh boy, that looks painful, but snow princess seems to be safe. How pretty she is. The way she looks seems like her body is carved out of ice with the occasional splosh of red. And the armored girl with gorgeous red hair falls down on our feet. That Deathstalker probably threw her here.  
"Nice. The whole gang is here. Now we can all die together."  
Okay, that was quite a negative reaction. Doesn't the blonde know that you need to think happy thoughts to keep the Grimm off your back? Her hair is still awesome though - and she can make fire appear, so she is still cool in my book.  
What follows is that the adorable red packs out one awesome heavy Scythe and attempts to attack the big mean Deathstalker. She also fails, which is not really surprising. Even a Magnhild superblow powered by a primed grenade is not quite enough for me to down one of these armored things. I throw Ren a glance, but he just shakes his head.  
_But you could punch thorough the armor,_ I sign.  
He is holding his pistols, a clear indication that he does not want to use his palms. _I am down on my Qi. And getting a clean shot against that Deathstalker with my bare hands will not be easy._  
_You should go all out. I can create an opening._  
_Nora, let's wait how the situation develops. We are not alone here._  
_So no showing off?_  
_Right now, I am far too exhausted to show off._  
_Oh no, little Red is in danger._ I point to the open field full of Nevermore feathers stuck to the ground. Her cape has been pinned down by one of the projectiles.  
_Nora, you are pretty small yourself._  
_Oh shoo._  
The snow princess dashs towards red riding hood and deflects the stinger attack by freezing the tail of the deathstalker in solid ice. Hah, I knew calling her snow princess was right on the spot. She is basically screaming out her power-set.  
Ren would totally not approve. He always tries to hide his true skills. I see the blonde embrace little red - they seem to know each other pretty well - and when all eight of us are finally together, babyblue eye and red riding hood each grab a relic.  
Oho, babyblue also got himself a golden castle. He has good taste.  
A small discussion ensues and in the end we decide to avoid the two gigantic Grimm and head straight to the exit of the forest. Too bad, for I want to smash them down, but Ren signals me to keep my mouth shut.  
Oh well. I guess I owe him for making him worry. Riding Ursa and using Beowolves as batting practice and all that jazz.  
When the Deathstalker starts to break out of the ice, Ren is the one to bring the discussion to an end. "Time to move."

We make good headway towards the edge of the forest. I can sprint for quite a long time and when Ren and I are training I usually start to run circles around him when we have reached the forty kilometer mark. He likes to ramble about just falling short of a marathon or something.  
Never mind. He likes to make odd references all the time - if he feels like stringing more than three words together. Honestly, he is much more talkative when we are using sign language. Must be his ninja tic of always staying silent. But I doubt the people running with us know about talking by using hand-weaving. Talking with your mouth is so much easier and these girls and that one guy seem like befriending them could be really, really fun. I will have to prod him to be more sociable. A little bit of mayhem amongst friends is totally great.  
Hmm, but I should not push him to be too sociable. He is handsome and I would not want some of these girls to take too much of an interest. Some girls at the smithy back in Vacuo became a little bit touchy-feeling when I brought Ren along to a party and the alcohol started to flow.  
Ahem, let us not dwell on things in the past.  
Okay, let's check out the competition here:  
**Exhibit 1:** Red riding hood. Totally adorable and cute as a button. And she appreciates big weapons. That is totally a plus. But I think she is younger than all of us. Fourteen or maybe fifteen? And Ren is actually twenty-two, even though I said he is as old as me now. But that was just to give me arguments to make him understand that he totally needs to relax sometimes. So basically, if she starts to seduce him that would make Ren a pedo. And her voice colors are orange and green mist with silver sparkles.  
_Queen Nora's edict:_ Absolutely not acceptable.  
**Exhibit 2:** Armored girl with gorgeous red hair. Now that I am looking at her a little bit more closely, she is kinda familiar and really, really gorgeous. I mean aside from her hair and I may be a girl, but I can totally appreciate other beautiful girls. But I am pretty sure I have seen that get-up somewhere... on TV perhaps? And her running form is really smooth. All of us are fit of course, but her athleticism seems to be on another level. Uuh, if she starts to hit on Ren, I might actually feel outgunned. On the other hand, during the whole discussion her gaze was always focused on babyblue eyes in white breastplate. Perhaps she likes him? Her voice color is a solid warm brown, with lines of yellow, ocher and applegreen. Curious combination.  
_Queen Nora's edict:_ She probably has another guy she is pining for, so hopefully no competition at all... hopefully.  
**Exhibit 3:** Big blonde girl who can make real fire appear out of thin air. She seems really cool, if a bit temperamental and apparently, she can change eye color. How awesome is that? Ren needs his contacts to do that. And she got big boobs. Real knock-outs. But I don't think her and Ren will really get along. He is too silent and I think she likes someone to talk to who actually talks back. Well, Ren does talk back, but more often than not, he does the talking back without talking at all. Not even with sign language. Wait, did that make any sense at all? Her voice colors are white intermixed with red that comes in splotches accompanied with golden swirls.  
_Queen Nora's edict:_ If Ren dares to go for her, I will call him a boob-fetishist until the day we die.  
**Exhibit 4:** Snow princess. Oh that won't work at all. Ren does not like the prim and proper type. I think he is a little stuffy himself, but the kind of woman he even remotely warms up to are always a little bit on the tomboyish side. He also likes them to be down-to-earth and this Snow princess basically screams that she is above you... wherever above really is. And her weapon is not practical at all to do big damage and if you are fighting Grimm, it's always a good option to do big damage. But she can make a lot of ice appear. Probably a heavy dust user. Her voice color is a sharp azure intertwined with dusty waves of yellow and occasional pink flashes.  
_Queen Nora's edict:_ Even if she tries to seduce Ren, he would not be swayed. She is simply not his type.  
**Exhibit 5:** Miss velvet voice in black. Uuuh, I am dreading this one. She is problematic. First of all, Ren has a thing for girls with black hair. He never admits it, but I have watched him. If a girl has black hair, especially if that hair is also thick and long, it always makes him watch her a teensy bit longer. Oh, not long enough to be considered impolite - he is a total gentleman that way, but it raises his interest. Secondly, her voice color. It's mono-colored like Ren's, always a sign that the speaker keeps his emotions in check and knows how to remove traces of their true self from the way they speak. And honestly, how is she NOT a ninja? Her whole get-up screams ninja like nothing else and aside from Ren, she is the only one out of our group who moves as soundlessly as him. She also behaves quite maturely and likes to keep herself in the background. It's like they are a match made in heaven.  
_Queen Nora's edict:_ If she starts to take interest in him and he an interest in her, I will bow out... really, even if it hurts... arrghh no, totally not ACCEPTABLE. Black ninja girl will not snatch my Ren away.  
**Exhibit 6:** Babyblue eyes with white breastplate. He is also blonde, but there is already a much more impressive blonde, so let's make him spare blonde. Now, I really don't think that Ren is gay. But honestly, I am not 100% sure. I have never ever really caught him display sexual interest in anyone, so perhaps the hidden desire of a same-sex relationship will finally set him free? Nah, I am turning paranoid and being paranoid is Ren's job, not mine.  
_Queen Nora's edict..._  
gets interrupted as an ear-piercing shriek that burns white hot in my vision brings us all to a halt. There is a stone bridge in front that leads to another ruin. Climbing up from there should allow us to reach the cliff above which would spell the end of our mission. Problem was, the big Nevermore was blocking the way and crossing that bridge, when there is an abyss below us is not the best of ideas when a big mean Grimm is just waiting to jump you. We all take cover, before we get skewered by its projectiles but another crushing sound comes from behind us and there is the Deathstalker that has followed us all the way here.  
What was the saying again? Caught between a rock and a hard place?  
Somehow that sounds like this double-speak thingy that Ren mentioned once. Double entrance... no, double entendre!  
Oh, the others are going for the bridge, where the giant nevermore is sitting like a big evil bird of prey.  
"Nora, distract it!"  
Ren leaps out of cover and I follow him closely. It fires a slew of feathers, but I duck, weave and jump out of the barrage, roll out of its line of fire and turn my Magnhild to grenade launcher mode.  
As the first grenade hits home and the booming sound of orange and ocher mixes up in a complex vortex with the pink explosion, I feel my mouth split into a grin. "Muhahahaha", I laugh while pelting that annoying bird with my grenades of love.  
A happy person is a safe person.  
Until I hear the rhythmic clatter of the Deathstalker approach me. I turn around to raise my guard, feeling a pang of panic, but both Ren and ninja girl step in and deflect both its pincers and then snow princess lands beside me, there is this strange white circle appearing below us, I suddenly feel totally light and then she drags me forward with a big leap.  
Okay, these guys are absolutely cool. Ren is of course also cool, but I already knew that. And I don't quite like it that he and ninja girl are already fighting and moving in tandem. I knew they had chemistry.  
I also have to work on being happy. Otherwise that Deathstalker would have ignored me. Hmm, I was probably also a little bit afraid.  
Queen Nora needs to keep her gameface on. And think happy thoughts. Lots and lots of happy thoughts so that fear and panic are gone.  
We make our way across the bridge and the big mean scorpion Grimm finally stops its pursuit, but the Nevermore appears again and tackles the portion of the bridge we were running across. I make a big leap, roll up to a standing position and look around me: Ren, ninja girl and armored girl are isolated on the other side and there is a big gap separating us. It's as if these two Grimm are coordinating their attacks.  
"We need to get over there. They need help."  
Spare blonde is spouting some brave ideas. I think I am starting to like him despite him being a little... flaky?  
"Let's do this."  
He looks down the deep, deep ravine. "Yeah, but I-I can't make that jump."  
Definitely flaky. I chuckle as a totally awesome plan forms in my mind.  
I knock him over, so that he can't escape. He lands on the far end of the bridge section we are standing on. Phase one complete.  
I transform Magnhild to hammer mode and perform a jumping smash on the other far end of the bridge section. The big slab of stone skips over and catapults spare blonde right over the ravine. Phase two complete.  
As the bridge is crumpling down, I put Magnhild against the stone while it's still balancing on the pillar, prime a grenade, step on the handle-side of the hammerhead and flying time! Phase three complete.  
And for the finishing touch, its pulping time. I pump up my arms, make a flip midair to increase velocity and smash Magnhild down with all my might. The might of the force travels up my arms as the big meanie actually resists Queen Nora's mighty blow, but before it can bring down its stinger, I ignite another grenade to move away.  
I simply love my boomstick.  
When I land, my backward motion bumps ninja girl out of the way. Oops, she is falling down the ravine. That was careless of me. And totally not intentional.  
Oh well, she is a ninja. She will survive it - most likely.  
The Deathstalker continues to rain down stinger blows against us without stepping on the bridge itself. Probably knows that the construction cannot support its weight. We are agile enough to evade, but again, the bridge section we are standing on starts to crumble. Oh boy, these big Grimm really are smart.  
"We need to move forward." It's spare blonde speaking, but right now he is moving far less flaky and unsure than before. He and armored girl both dash forward and perform a totally awesome deflecting combo with their shields to make an opening for each other, so they can slash the Grimm some new ones. Ren also attacks and when the stinger crashes down he evades it like he is flowing out of the way. I think he is gonna use the opening to use a totally awesome palm strike, but he instead grabs the stinger with one arm, let himself be yanked up and shoots with his free gun at point-blank and right into the small unarmored gap between stinger and tail.  
That's so like him to attack the weak spot and the colors flying around are simply beautiful. Too bad it's too dangerous right now to be distracted.  
I fold Magnhild into launcher mode and create some more awesome explosions to buy spare blonde and armored girl some precious milliseconds. They use that time to get out of the way. Good. Then armored girl transforms her sword into a javelin and throws it right into one of it's eyes.  
I knew I have seen her before on TV. That motion is her winning throw. Pyrrha Nikos' winning throw.  
But before I can delight in this new discovery, I see the Deathstalker thrash around like crazy and then Ren gets thrown off and flung against a nearby stone wall. Violently at that.  
I will kill this thing.  
Think happy thoughts.  
I will kill this thing.  
Think happy thoughts.  
I will kill this thing and make the very image into a happy thought.  
I hear spare blonde say something to Pyrrha, see her throw her shield like a discus. It severs the heavy stinger that Ren already loosened and it sinks right into its head. Awesome throw, Pyrrha and good thinking, spare blonde.  
No, I will upgrade him to babyblue eyes again.  
"Nora, nail it!"  
Gladly. "Heads up", I cry and run towards Pyrrha, who crouches down. I prime another grenade, jump on her shield, sit down on Magnhild's handle and make my boomstick explode. The invincible girl gives me another push from below and as I am flying up really, really high, I cannot help but chuckle.  
That Deathstalker is sooo going to die.  
The stomp I make is one of the most satisfying that I can remember. I feel the way the stinger completely buries itself into the head of the Grimm, feel the way it's soft innards are getting torn and pulped and ground. The mixture of color spans the whole spectrum of the rainbow, pulsating and exploding in a myriad of forms and waves. Pyrrha and babyblue eyes fly right over the monster into the safe zone and I ignite a final grenade to catapult myself away from the Grimm.  
The sight of that think falling into the ravine is a memory I will treasure for a long, long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Commentary: As all readers have no doubt noticed, Nora's way of 'looking' at the world is... unique. Now, before people start to speculate on the nature of our favorite little berserker applying colors to sounds, let me make clear what I intend her ability to be.  
> My version of Nora is gifted with a real-life neurological condition called synesthesia. This condition leads to people involuntarily combining different modes of sensory perception. In case of Nora, when she hears certain sounds like loud booming noises or people's voices, her brain automatically applies a color scheme to the auditory stimulation. There are other ways how different senses can be combined: The one that happens most often is the grapheme-color synesthesia that makes letters and numbers appear in different colors despite them printed in black ink, but there are also rarer ones, like an auditory-gustatory synesthesia that make people have 'phantom tastes' when playing notes on a piano. One musician talks about tasting lemon, when hearing the tone C.  
> I am not a synesthetic myself, but I got to know three different synesthetics during my time at the university - all of them women - and asked them extensively about their condition, so I am somewhat confident that I got a handle on how to depict the perspective of such a person. Prevalence is surprisingly high - scientist estimate that one person out of 500 - 1000 develop some kind of permanent synesthesia during his or her life, but it is also possible for 'normal' people to artificially create a synesthetic experience... by imbibing certain drugs.  
> The most popular one for such purposes is lysergic acid diethylamide.


	6. Ozpin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Through the eyes of an assassin - a RWBY fanfiction

"Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos and Lie Ren. You shall therefore be known as team JNPR lead by Jaune Arc." The blonde looked surprised.  
"Congratulations, young man", I heard the headmaster mutter. Words of encouragement. Jaune was the first team-leader to receive this kind of attention. Pyrrha Nikos, the so called 'Invincible Girl' gave him a good-natured shove that threw him off his feet. The gathered crowd got a good laugh out of that and Nora joined right in, but I could not help but feel confused.  
Why did that man not choose Pyrrha to be team-leader? She was already famous, possessed impressive charisma and was an excellent fighter as far as I could discern. She also worked well in a group. I admit that Jaune showed surprising battle insight when it came to directing our attacks as a team, but as far as I could read her she could do just as well if she were to assert herself.  
And Jaune was... contradictory. Out of our group of eight he possessed the most impressive qi potential. Woman tended to develop bigger qi pools on average and considering that the other six girls were powerhouses themselves, this was even more astounding.  
Funny. When it came to energy potential I was the big weakling of the group.  
Jaune's fighting skills seemed to be lacking though. I did not see a lot from him, but his footing was a mess, the grip on his sword was far to rigid and the way he carried his shield was simply too sloppy. It also seemed like he knew nothing about gauging distances and attack range.  
But that was not the truly confusing thing.  
His breathing and posture were good as in really good. Half of the other first years could not hold a candle to him when it came to these absolute fundamentals. He was also in excellent physical shape. His gait and casual movements, which only became jittery when he engaged in social interactions, indicated a harmonious relationship between qi and body.  
He possessed the perfect constitution to be a truly great fighter, physically and spiritually. Prodigious Qi and prodigious Jin. But as outstanding as these attributes were, he utterly lacked the mind to will his physicality into battle. His Shen when it came to fighting seemed basically non-existent.  
A mystery for the ages. Trying to solve it will provide me with much food for thought.  
We stepped down from the stage and Ozpin called out the last team of first years to be formed and introduced. "Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladona and Yang Xiao Long. You shall therefore be known as team RWBY lead by Ruby Rose."  
Another curious choice for team leader, but she did behead that giant Nevermore. Judging from their conversation afterward, the red hooded girl was also the one who came up with that creative and slightly insane plan to use herself as a glorified slingshot bullet. If one were to ask my opinion who amongst them was most fitting to be team leader I would draw a blank. These four girls were a colorful bunch. Even after having fought side by side, I found it difficult to figure them out individually, let alone predict their team dynamic. While watching Yang suffocate Ruby in a bear hug - both of them were supposedly sisters – Ms Goodwitch walked towards our team.  
"Mr Lie, the headmaster would like to have a word with you." She turned her head to Jaune, her expression forcibly neutral. "I hope that won't be a problem for your team Mr Arc."  
"Ah no, of course not. If the headmaster needs to speak with Ren it surely has to be important."  
"Ooooh, Ren did you do something bad? Like, did you play a prank on the headmaster? Or did you blackmail him?" Jaune and Pyrrha looked slightly embarrassed and Ms Goodwitch raised her eyebrows. I just palmed my face.  
"Be assured that Mr Lie is not guilty of any kind of rule-breaking, criminal activity or careless frivolities. The headmaster simply wish to have a talk." Ms Goodwitch turned to me again. "Mr Lie, if you would?"  
I nodded and followed her.

Ozpin's office room, if it could be called such, was unique. The walls were adorned with every kind of clock imaginable. There were sun dials, grandfather clocks, hour glasses, digital clocks in all sizes and adventurous shapes. A truly eye-catching exhibition. Looking at the ceiling I saw mechanical gears grinding away and even his office window was in the likeness of a giant clock with Roman numericals. Was this man some kind of enthusiast or did these contraptions serve some kind of symbolic purpose? Probably both.  
The headmaster and I were the only people in the room. Ms Goodwitch merely lead me to the elevator and told me to press the button for the sixteenth floor. Sixteen was also four multiplied four. The continent of Vytal really had an unhealthy obsession with that foreboding number.  
"Mr Lie Ren. Please have a seat."  
I watched the placement of his desk near the main window, the way his seat was aligned to the room. A typical arrangement to ensure that the owner of said office exerted maximum power. By accepting his seat I would expose my back to any kind of interference coming through the lift and my vision would only cover a mere fraction of the room.  
"I do not wish to come across as impolite," I bowed deeply, "but I would like to keep standing during our conversation, sir."  
I saw the man raise a single gray eyebrow. Overall, his appearance did strike me as a little odd. His facial features were that of man in his thirties at the most, while his gray hair hinted at a much higher age. Even indoors, he wore black shades which were much too small to really cover his eyes and while he mostly wore black, his scarf was a brilliant shade of green.  
Usually, I did not care much about other people's appearances besides trying to profile them through it, but Ozpin's attire was something I felt worth emulating.  
"Go ahead, Mr Lie. As long as you are comfortable."  
I nodded. "Thank you."  
"So Mr Lie, or may I call you Ren?"  
"If you wish so, sir."  
"Good. Now, Ren according to your papers you are Nora Valkyrie's official guardian, is that correct?"  
"Yes."  
"And the both of you are orphans?"  
"Yes."  
He made a pause and his gaze became more intense. "I like to think of my school as a place that accepts individuals from all walks of life as long as they display appropriate skills. During this school's history there were quite a number of orphans who walked these very halls and graduated with accolades. A dangerous and ambitious method to move to the very top of citizen tiers, but certainly a way that can pay of handsomely."  
He paused to take a sip from his coffee. His penetrating gaze never left mine. The unasked question hung in the air like cobwebs, but I decided not to react to the bait. Using silence to force the other side to talk was quite a common tactic. Usually, when faced with someone of great reputation and authority one tried to keep the conversation going. Too bad that I was extensively taught to recognize these kind of tricks. I stayed silent and let his gaze wash over me.  
Ozpin was the first to yield.  
"I have a good memory when it concerns my students but I don't remember having ever encountered your kind of situation of having two orphans entrust each others fate to this degree. Children without parents, especially ones who grew up in orphanages tend to be loners."  
"So?"  
"Your movements after both of you were launched into the forest were remarkable. You were separated by a distance of about 2.5 kilometers, but you walked straight towards each other like you knew exactly where the other was positioned. How did you achieve this kind of coordination?"  
He was finally getting to the point.  
"We were launched right after each other and had the opportunity to watch our respective flying curves. By extrapolating it is possible to get an accurate estimation of each our landing points. Following that, we just had to reach our destination. Both of us lived for some time in the wilderness at the northern border of Vacuo. Firefall forest to be specific. Surviving there taught us how to move and track efficiently even in the midst of heavy vegetation. Moving in a more or less straight line surrounded by trees is a cakewalk for us."  
Ozpin let my words sink in. "I see."  
The man had a mean pokerface. I could not read him at all. The fact that he concealed his qi perfectly did not help either.  
"I have another question." He reached out with his right arm and manipulated some dials on his desk. Three holographic projectors came to live to form a row of screens. Another push of a button and I saw several video feeds showing me fighting that ancient King Taijitu. It was the same fight over and over, only from different angles.  
"Could you tell me where you learned to do that?"  
I expected surveillance, but this was simply overkill. I needed to find a way to spot these drones.  
"Sorry sir, but you need to be a little more specific. What exactly piqued your interest?"  
Ozpin stopped the three videos one after another. They showed the exact moment I was blocking the fangs of the black Taijitsu with yinggong, the instant I used my palm thrust to detonate its head and lastly when I struck the white Taijitsu the second time, just before it froze up and died without any kind of wound showing. I sighed inwardly. Getting out of this interrogation without showing my cards will be tricky. Perhaps I will let the headmaster have a little peak.  
Should I tell him that I was using a Semblance? As far as I could tell they were kind of random. No. I was talking to perhaps the most experienced Hunter alive who had been leading the most prestigious Hunting Academy for the past thirty years. A place that thrived on people with Semblances. The risk of tangling myself up in a web of lies and ignorance was far too high.  
"Before I attended Sentinel combat school I had a master."  
"A master?"  
"She hailed from the Forgotten Kingdom. A hermit."  
I saw Ozpin's eyes widen. A crack in his perfect mask. It was the first genuine reaction I saw.  
"And she taught you how to use such sophisticated Aura manipulation techniques- at your age?"  
I prepared myself mentally to tell my biggest misdirection yet. "She taught me ways to manipulate Aura, professor, but you have to be more precise. What do you think I did to the snakes?"  
Ozpin squinted his eyes imperceptibly. "To the best of my knowledge you injected the black Taijitu with a cluster of Aura too dense to be processed by its body. The energy became congested until it detonated."  
I would have expected nothing less from a man who could conceal his qi to this degree.  
"What you did to the white head though, I can only guess."  
"Sorry sir, but you guessed wrong. What made the snake's head explode was a purely physical attack."  
Ozpin raised a single eyebrow. Again.  
"Its a high frequency wave that forces the tissue inside the beast to resonate. The tissue destroys itself by vibrating in a rate it cannot endure."  
Now Ozpin was raising both his eyebrows. "That's a surprisingly scientific way to explain your technique."  
"It took me a long time to understand the principle. The way my master talked about it was... very confusing. Only after reading through some science textbooks during Sentinel did I found the language to comprehend it myself."  
"And how do you focus this kind energy? I know that certain combat-arts employ similar skills, but by my estimation, a human body is incapable of producing the necessary frequency by itself."  
This man was knowledgeable. Dangerously so.  
"I use my Aura to control and push inner processes in my body beyond their physiological limits."  
"You are telling me that your control over your Aura is good enough to manipulate your own tissue frequency or the speed of your blood blow?"  
The more I talked with him the more I wanted him as my new master. Shame that I could not trust him with my true circumstances.  
"Yes."  
"Impressive. And potentially hazardous for your own health."  
"I am aware."  
"Now Ren, what did you do to the second snake?"  
"Same underlying principle. Only that I used two waves instead of one. I also had to focus them into acquiring soliton property. When the two waves collided it resulted in a synergistic negative annihilation event."  
Ozpin rewinded the video with the white Taijitu and stopped at the moment when I evaded its attack while dealing it a hit at the same time.  
"A mere glancing blow, harmless by itself." He nodded. "And by adding a second force injection of the same wave polarity you cause a spike in resonation the moment they meet each other. Focusing both waves to have soliton property allows the power to propagate through the body without energy lost." He gave me another measuring look. "And I take it that the resulting frequency is much higher than the mere addition of two waves resulting in more focused tissue damage which is why no external wounds can be seen?"  
"Yes."  
I started to calm down. It seemed like he swallowed my half-truth hook, line and sinker. What I really did to the white snake was pretty similar to what Ozpin believed to have deduced, but obfuscating the fine print was very important in this case. Using qi to manipulate your own body to deal physical high frequency strikes was a good way to kill Grimm, but at the same time a less than optimal way to deal with enemies who had qi barriers. Injecting high frequency qi into foreign bodies on the other hand, be it Grimm or Hunter was equally effective and equally lethal. I could use both methods, but specialized in the latter due to its versatility.  
"Ren, I apologize for subjecting you to so many probing questions. You are probably aware that the nature of your skills gives you the potential to ignore rules of engagement between Huntsmen."  
That's why they were taught to me in the first place.  
"I understand, sir."  
We stared at each other for quite some time and the silence between us blanketed the whole room. I was okay with that. Silence was golden after all.  
Again, Ozpin was the first to disturb the peace.  
"Would you like a cup of coffee?"  
He held up a silver pot. I preferred tea, but it was only polite to accept.  
"Please."  
The headmaster took out an empty cup from underneath his desk and filled it to the brim.  
"Sugar, milk?"  
"Black."  
"Very well."  
He offered me the cup with an outstretched hand. I took it and felt like I was grabbing a floating object out of thin air. The brew had a strong almost stinging aroma. I took a sip. Very hot, very bitter but unlike any other coffee I had tasted before, the molten-like liquid had an astringent quality that made it hard to swallow. It constricted my tongue, ran down my throat and warmed up my empty stomach. I felt myself being energized.  
It was not the caffeine that did it.  
The coffee, it strengthened my jin!  
My arm raised itself and I gulped down the brew hungrily, not caring about the bitterness or the way it scalded my gums. I grimaced when the burning pain inside my mouth hit me full force, but as I breathed in to flood my body with qi every fiber of my being tingled over with energy. I threw Ozpin what was surely a bewildered look. The first words that left my lips surprised me: "May I have another cup?"  
The headmaster had an amused expression on his face. "I am flattered, Ren. You are the first person who ever finished a full cup of my blend and surely also the first who ever asked for a second cup despite the taste being as awful and caustic as it is."  
He got me.  
"The reason for that, I assume, lies in the fact that you noticed the special property of my coffee."  
He so got me. Coffee spiked with potent qi medicine. But where in the hellish courts of Yama did he manage to acquire it?  
"I am not sure how much of our conversation was deception and how much of it was truth. I met my fair share of students who tried to conceal things about themselves or their actions and you are certainly right at the top of the ones most proficient at making up believable lies."  
He took a sip from his own mug. "You are a former denizen of the Forgotten Kingdom yourself, aren't you Mr Lie?"  
"Perhaps."  
He chuckled. "I imagine there to be quite a story behind how a member of the fighting caste of the most reclusive and secretive kingdom in the whole of Remnant managed to make his way to my doorstep." He paused for effect. "But it is not my place to force that story out of you. If you ever feel the desire to share it though, be assured that my door is open."  
How many surprises did that man wanted to throw at me until he was satisfied?  
"You are not the least bit concerned? About the disaster I could bring to your school?"  
"Whatever one may say about the forces of the Forgotten Kingdom, they seldom go for wholesale slaughter or actions that causes a huge stir. They usually opt for surgical strikes under the cover of night, secrecy and proxies to remove problematic elements."  
"And you believe yourself to be prepared for those surgical attacks?"  
"I pride myself to be a pretty good Huntsman, so yes. Besides, damaging an institution like Beacon could severely disrupt the Balance of the world."  
So he was aware of the Creed of Neutrality.  
"And what about my techniques?"  
"You have already explained them at length and from what I can grasp they may be destructive, but much less so when used on people with developed Auras. I trust you as I trust every other student at my school that you will use the powers at your disposal with caution and responsibility." He gave me a meaningful look.  
I bowed. "I understand, professor."  
"And please, be assured that as long as you are one of my students, you are under my protection. The same goes for your secret. The words spoken in this room will remain here."  
I bowed again. Only deeper. His reaction was not something I expected and I stopped myself from wondering about all the things he apparently knew. His countenance and manner struck me as someone who was far older than his appearance suggested and I could not shake the feeling that he was trying very hard to win me over. There had to be a reason here.  
"Can I have another cup please?"  
"Mr Lie, I take it that the obstacles during initiation exhausted you?"  
"Yes."  
"In that case, I suggest you eat a hearty meal, take a good long shower and rest soundly to replenish your energies. There is no need for you to drug yourself... in excess."  
Too bad. I had not tasted qi medicine that potent since the day I betrayed the organization. Still, even that one cup of 'coffee' will help me a long way down the road.  
"Is that all, sir?"  
"I think so. Thank you for your time, Mr Lie."  
"Likewise."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **World of Remnant addendum 2: The four Kingdoms -The Forgotten Kingdom**
> 
> _Legends have been part of Remnant's culture for a very long time, but none of them are as persistent or as thought provoking as the one about the Forgotten Kingdom. The very first version of it's history go back beyond the emergence of written history._   
>  _Oral traditions have a way of being extremely fluid in their interpretation and reinvention of stories, but even when the legend was finally written down, it still became exposed to shifts in language, culture and political landscape that lead to countless permutations of one and the same narration that might have once been reality._   
>  _The mysterious Kingdom had many names before it fell into obscurity: Atlantis, Avalon, Utopia, Shangri-La. Names that hold mystique, ripped and repurposed from a time before Remnant... but in the end, these names do not matter. To understand the kingdom that became forgotten, one need to focus on its function, for it is an Ark._   
>  _Archaeology in this world at siege by the forces of Grimm is as much about reverse engineering as it is a study about ruins of the past. Our technological progress is not the mere result of cultural evolution, but is also fueled by rediscovering lost blueprints, wrecked machines, remnants of a civilization much more advanced than our own. Occasionally these rediscoveries jump-start a wave of technological innovation that under normal means could not be achieved in centuries._   
>  _In light of this particular aspect of Remnant's technological progress, the Forgotten Kingdom could be called the Holy Grail of archaeology. Finding and uncovering its secrets is supposed to put an end to the often slow trickle of rediscovered knowledge that strengthens our progress one bit at a time. The ones who buy into the legend believe that by finding its location, all the civilizational might of the Old World may be laid at our feet._   
>  _Technology beyond our wildest imagination._   
>  _Weapons that dwarf our own, making even our most lethal inventions look like nothing but contraptions and toys._   
>  _And perhaps, a permanent solution to the Grimm infestation that plaques our world._   
>  _So the legend is born. A chalice of wonder, of miracles that is situated at the very end of a knight's errand. Obtaining it may very well save the world - a most promising encouragement for everyone wishing to be a Hero, isn't it?_   
>  _And as it so happens, I lead a school specialized in creating Heroes. I teach them to fight, teach them teamwork, dedication and tactics, give them the necessary tools and training, but most of all, I let them be inspired._   
>  _For many a Huntsman and Huntress, following this particular Hero's Journey became their life's purpose, their raison d'etre. For me, it is only one of many plans, one of many contingencies that could potentially solve the constant threat of the Grimm._   
>  _And I send them nonetheless, for all my bases need to be covered._   
>  _I send them, knowing full well that it could be nothing more but a fool's errand._   
>  _I send them into the unknown and more often than not, they do not return._   
>  _And the ones that do return bring only scraps. Little piecemeal of information that barely illuminate the divide between truth and fiction. Therefore, the Forgotten Kingdom still eludes our grasp and I ask myself in my sleep: Is it worth it? Does it balance out? How long do I need to continue, for my hands are soaked in their blood. So much talent and potential lost to the perils of claws, teeth and horror. But these children still venture forth into the abyss and they do it while claiming to follow their own free will._   
>  _So why do I feel like a manipulator, a hypocrite of the highest order?_   
>    
>  _Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy._   
> 


	7. School days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Some disclaimer for this chapter: I do not own the movie 'Equilibrium' from where I borrowed a cool quote about gun kata. I also do not own the RWBY-manga, written and drawn by Japanese mangaka Shiwa Miro from where I borrowed a certain scene.

The second evening at Beacon was a tense one.  
Coming back from my... interrogation with Ozpin put my nerves on edge. Living all that time on Remnant and being surrounded by the general ignorance concerning everything related to qi had made me placid. Suddenly encountering a person outside the organization who was able to put my abilities in context was a new experience and put me on the spot. And despite all the dancing around during conversation, the headmaster basically pierced my deception and identified part of my origins.  
And he apparently took qi-enhancing medicine - if the coffee he served me was anything to go by.  
Where could he have possibly acquired it? The only way to produce it was through the practice of neidan, a skill so complex, rare and jealously guarded that I only knew it in theory. And the mark I carried since birth gave me access to the deepest secrets the Forgotten Kingdom had to offer - as long as there was a chance I could learn and master them.  
The first night staying in our dorms and I was sorely tempted to pack my things and disappear.  
Of course, Nora's presence held me back.  
Jaune and Pyrrha were worried about me when I came back from my conversation with Ozpin, but I deflected their questions easily enough. After that, our team leader suggested a talk to get to know each other. 'Building team spirit' he called it. We had not unpacked yet, but Jaune was of the opinion that it could wait. As usual, Nora did most of the talking for me.  
I found Jaune's and Pyrrha's addition into Nora's life and mine not unpleasant, which was a good thing, for as long as we planned to attend Beacon we were stuck with each other. Jaune was a sweet tempered guy, a little bit naive and insecure, but he did not try to compensate his insecurities by trying to dominate social situations and like me, he was quite a good listener.  
I guessed that he had siblings and asked him such, but even I did not expect him to have seven older sisters.  
I almost felt sorry for him, until another thought struck me: A family with eight children. Considering that strict birth control was applied in every Kingdom, Jaune's family could not be a regular one. Unfortunately, I did not manage to prod this particular bit of information out of him. He seemed to dislike talking about his relatives.  
There was always a next time.  
Pyrrha was even more tight lipped when it came to her personal circumstances. Nora immediately bombarded her with questions about her being a multi-timed champion, but it was obvious that she disliked the topic. The answers she gave were pitch-perfect and could have been churned out by a public relations expert, which was probably the case in hindsight. An athlete of her caliber and status had at least one manager.  
The moment we switched topic, her whole demeanor changed, especially when Nora tried to coax out some secret about how Pyrrha took care of her hair. Soon enough, the conversation delved into the unfathomable depths of girl-talk and beauty-maintenance. Jaune and I shared a mutual gaze of silent suffering and shortly after, all of us went to bed.  
It was a small occasion of bonding for all of us, but definitely a step in the right direction. Even as I laid in bed, unable to fall asleep as fear, worry and paranoia ran their course, I could not shake off the joy of my bumbling partner, the glow on her face as she managed to make another female friend. Pyrrha seemed mature and I pegged her as a typical nurturer - in other words: A positive influence for Nora and here I was, looking for escape routes again, ready to tear her away from another shot at leading a good, healthy life.  
It was that evening that I decided to brave through. No more running away. If not for my sake, then for hers.

The first two days after Initiation were filled with theoretical classes. The level was surprisingly low, be it biology, common vernacular, Grimm studies, math or physics. Most of the tasks were rote memorization, though Peter Port did let one of the students – it was the leader of team SAPR - fight a Borbatusk. On a pedagogical level, most of the teachers were decent. Their lectures were concise, nicely formulated and easy to follow. Professor Port turned out to be an exception again. His teaching style was non-existent, for his lectures were simply anecdotes about his experiences as a huntsman. Sometimes amusing, sometimes tedious, but always useless as far as hard facts were concerned. I slipped in one of our textbooks on Grimm anatomy the second time I attended his lecture and started to work through the drawings while pretending to listen to his class.  
No reason to waste time.  
Math with professor Topaz was easy. Most of the students still struggled with trigonometry, but she put a lot of effort to make her lectures less abstract by providing us real life tasks that we had to solve. Using a makeshift sextant to determine direction by using known stars was a nice skill to have when tracking in the wilderness during dark hours. Gauging the height of objects in a distance by using a sniper scope with defined markings was also met with enthusiasm – a lot of Huntsman in training had on-hand-experience with distance shooting and students like Ruby Rose even deployed a sniper rifle as their chosen weapon.  
History was the subject I was looking out for the most and the person who taught the subject turned out to be quite eccentric - and surprisingly capable. Out of all our teachers Dr. Oobleck came the closest to being a true academic. I had no doubt that he could deal with Grimm like every other instructor at Beacon. His qi circulation was absolutely superb and his copious usage of flash steps indicated excellent foot-work – the foundation of every kind of martial-art. But he obviously liked his chosen subject and he did not pull any punches when holding class. He crammed lots of content into his lecture and he was not afraid to ask hard questions or prod us to think critically. Even I was forced to pay full attention lest I missed some details and I also had to use a shorthand to keep up with my notes.  
Theoretical classes kept our teams until noon. The rest of the days were leisure time, but Pyrrha insisted on drawing a training regimen to benefit the whole of JNPR and I offered her my help which she gladly accepted. Pyrrha first created a basic workout schedule that spanned four weeks – it focused on strength, stamina and agility. I tweaked it only a little bit by adding exercises to build up speed and reflexes as well as a bigger focus on building lower body strength. After that, we went to craft schedules that were tailored to us as individuals.  
"I am sorry to ask you Ren, but why did you put all these breathing exercises into Nora's schedule?"  
"To help her focus and control her... Aura."  
She gave me a surprised look. "I always thought that you learn control over your Aura by using it."  
"A trial-and-error method. Not very efficient."  
"The way you were taught to fight was clearly different than what I experienced. I had very good instructors due to my...", she scrunched her face, "many sponsors, but none of them ever mentioned that practicing your breathing could specifically help you control your Aura. Could you show me?"  
I shrugged. "Sure. But you will have to make room for them. They take up a lot of time." An idea struck me. "And could you synchronize your schedule with Nora's when doing the breathing exercises? It's good motivation for her."  
"Does she dislike them?"  
I sighed. "She is not the most patient person."  
She smiled knowingly. "You know, it's really sweet."  
I gave her a questioning look.  
"Oh sorry, I mean, the way you look out for her. I saw you sneaking vegetables in-between when she is busy shoveling in pancakes or how you take extra effort in preparing your notes on classes for her. You explain the most important points in the lectures instead of giving her the solutions outright. That way you force her to come up with her own answers."  
"You have read my notes."  
"They are well written. Right now, I follow classes without much trouble, but I still gleaned some new insights from your script."  
I nodded. "If you deem them helpful, feel free to ask Nora to share them with you."  
This time, she actually giggled. "You really look out for her. She is a lucky girl."  
Was she teasing me? Well, two could play the game. "Following that logic, Jaune is also a lucky guy."  
Pyrrha immediately became defensive. "What do you mean?"  
"You made a dietary plan for him in addition to the training schedule for all of us. You also helped him in maintaining his shield and I saw you snatching him up to the library to follow up on Dr Oobleck's history lecture."  
Pyrrha blushed furiously and averted her gaze. "I just try to help him ease up to his role as team leader. Beacon is a tough place as it is."  
"True." I deadpanned. "And there is no reason to be embarrassed. Displaying loyalty and affection through action is a most admirable trait. You should be proud."  
Her face lit up in surprise. Then she smiled. "Thank you."  
I nodded. "You are welcome."  
We continued to work in companionable silence and barely finished for mealtime. 

_The gun katas. Through analysis of thousands of recorded gunfights, the Cleric has determined that the geometric distribution of antagonists in any gun battle is a statistically predictable element. The gun kata treats the gun as a total weapon, each fluid position representing a maximum kill zone, inflicting maximum damage on the maximum number of opponents while keeping the defender clear of the statistically traditional trajectories of return fire._

_Unknown writer_

I sighed. This piece of instruction – by itself – was not very helpful at all. Some lines were promising like the one talking about treating the gun as a 'total weapon' though I saw several ways to interpret that phrase. The different combat stances looked pretty solid. There were also diagrams superimposed on the stances which probably refered to the so called kill-zones. Still, I could not shake the feeling that gun kata as a martial-art came into prominence during a time when qi assisted battle was not as commonplace as it was today. The text treated handguns as reliably lethal weapons and the word Cleric - was this battle style particular to some kind of religious caste?  
Just how old was this text and what kind of society produced it?  
I threw down my scroll and looked up to the sky, drinking in the pale light of Remnant's broken moon. Team training was already over and the other three already finished their individual exercises, but I preferred to train when it was dark. Less risk of eyes sneaking around where they should not.  
I steered my thought process back to the topic at hand: Three hundred ancient manuals on forgotten martial-arts were locked away in my personal handheld. Only three of them integrated firearms into their combat styles. The gun kata was the sole one which focused completely on firearms, but only bits and pieces of the original text had been preserved. Not enough to give me a full picture.  
I grabbed my scroll, closed the file and activated the reading protection. All part of my personal security measures. The files themselves were encrypted and rigged with a self-contamination procedure. If they were opened by any other device but mine, the data simply corrupted itself.  
It was a shame I was not skilled in programming. All my data security and hacking tools were borrowed from my days before I ran away with Nora. I did not program a single one myself and after eight years, some were beginning to show their age. Updating them would be possible; the organization possessed countless little pockets of information hot-spots in the CTS, but I knew far too little about digital warfare. A single download could alert them to my presence or worse, my location.  
I let the twin pistols slide into my hands. Nora insisted that I gave them a name, so I designated them Storm Flower to appease her. They were a good fit and the balance was exquisite, but I always found it difficult to incorporate firearms into my fighting style that relied so heavily on the subtle manipulation of qi. To let energy ride smoothly along the meridians, every fiber of the body needed to follow the ebb and flow of inner qi. Relaxation and tension had to be in harmonious flux. Firearms defeated that purpose. Their recoil and loud noise forced the whole body to close up. It hindered concentration, stifling the flow of energy and disrupting the combat breathing cycle.  
Still, Nora was right to say that most modern Hunters used hybrid-weapons that could be deployed in melee and range. Not using one would make me stick out like a sore thump, so for the time being I tried to deal with this nuisance called convention. There was of course Jaune who used a sword and shield combo without any flourish at all, adding just another oddity to his growing list of quirks, but the bigger Jaune's presence was, the bigger the shadow he cast for me to hide in. Ozpin may have busted part of my cover, but that was no reason to throw caution out of the window.  
I worked my way through the set of gun kata stances. First without firing any shot at all, the second time by shooting once with each pistol when my limbs reached the apex of their movement. As I expected, the recoil disrupted my energy the second time I went through each step of the form. Frustration started to gnaw at me, but I swallowed it down.

_Kung Fu is time, my master used to say._  
_And if you don't have time? My young self asked foolishly._  
_Then you don't have Kung Fu._

Patience was key. Repetition upon repetition upon repetition. I needed my body to memorize the kata in its entirety, before moving up to control the internal dynamics of my organs and blood vessels. After that, repetition upon repetition upon repetition. Only by mastering the basics thoroughly could I move down to the deepest of secrets.  
So I trained. Willed my body to move along forms that were carefully cultivated. Crystallized wisdom of human physicality which could never be fully conveyed by words. The air tasted delicious with just the right amount of humidity. Nothing like the dry winds of Vacuo that parched my throat when imbibed for an extended amount of time. Here, standing in the middle of a little foliage surrounded by flowers and bushes, I could drink the air the whole day without want for anything else.  
Time lost its meaning as my self slowly dissolved. The chain of cause, intent and action became a continuum. I felt the movement of the wind on my body, but my mind also grasped the rhythm of my breath, the miniscule sound of my heartbeat, the electric pulses firing throughout my nervous system. Phenomena that were only observable in discrete spans of time - milliseconds, seconds and minutes – my perception of them became one.  
After 281 repetitions of the kata I decided to take a break. My body was only now becoming hot enough to sweat, but I used my breath to increase blood flow, soaking in the excess heat from my body just to let it dissipate through my breath again. The cyclical nature of energy and life. Understanding it granted one mastery of the workings of the world, but I still had a long way to go until I reached this kind of enlightenment.  
The whooshing sound of a blade cutting air.  
I turned my head towards the sound and my senses became alert. I started my combat breathing cycle, infusing my bones with qi, feeling the chains of gravity loosen their hold on me. I jumped towards the next tree and ran up the vertical surface of the trunk, seeking the cover of vegetation. The sounds I made were slight, indistinguishable from the activity of small rodents, but it could be better. I knew I could move soundlessly even between treelines. Life in the city had softened up my skills.  
I glimpsed out of the curtain of leafs and spotted a ball of red and black, barely recognizable in the darkness. A gigantic blade, reminiscent of the beak of a predator bird, spun around a petite body with enough speed that even my eyes could not follow. Ruby Rose.  
Seems like I was not the only one who deemed this place and time to be ideal for training. Now, I was not someone who looked a gifted horse in the mouth. Most members of team RWBY possessed unusual weapons, the multi-action dust-rapier of the Schnee heiress and the kurigasama-ninjato-handgun hybrid of Blake Belladonna came to mind. Exotic weapons had their advantages: Due to their rarity and often eccentric design, their exact capabilities were difficult to anticipate. Established counter-techniques were hard to come by, but that was a double-edged sword, for there were also few established ways and martial-art teachings to help the wielder master them. Designers of very outlandish ones often had to learn the usage of their weapons completely by themselves.  
In summary: Opponents with exotic weapons were often more flash than substance. I just had to overcome the initial uncertainty and unpredictability, so spying on wielders of exotic weapons during practice was a good way to stack the deck in my favor. HvH classes were ranked and I did not plan on falling too far behind.  
It took me about two minutes to realize that Ruby Rose defied typical preconceptions when it came to wielders of exotic weapons. Her swings were measured, her posture practiced, her breathing control was well beyond what I would expect from a fifteen year old and most of all, she was truly proficient with her weapon. She diligently worked through a plethora of combat forms that looked far too refined to be the mere result of trial-and-error.  
Someone had taught her how to use that monstrous scythe. Someone extremely skillful.  
Rumors about Ruby Rose were abound. There was talk about her even before initiation. Her notoriety was on the same level as Pyrrha Nikos and Weiss Schnee. One had won the Mistral Championship Tournament four times in succession, the other was the heir of a gigantic economical conglomerate. The fact that Ruby's early entry into the Academy was given the same kind of attention just underscored the difficulty and exclusivity of being allowed into Beacon.  
Then, she was made team leader and the whispers became even more pronounced. They called her child genius or prodigy. Her performance against the Nevermore was impressive, but that was a team effort, though now that I got a close look at her fighting style, I was inclined to agree. A true prodigy indeed. I closed my eyes.  
When I was about her age, during another life, I had carried the same title. Tiancai, they called me – the heavenly gifted. Then I turned my back on the organization and in retaliation they send their warriors against me and the one I had to protect. Nearly all of the them were my seniors, most of them were more experienced, some of them were stronger or faster or more resilient than me.  
It did not matter in the end.  
They fell before my palm strikes and my wit. They became victims to my sheer skill of manipulating foreign qi - and my willingness to fight dirty. After my twelfth kill, the name that I was given at birth was deemed anathema. That was when the pursuers started to call me Dushou, poisoned hands. Only by erasing our tracks completely was it possible to prevent further attacks and learning to do that took a painfully long time. The Forgotten Kingdom had eyes everywhere.  
I pinched the bridge of my nose to relieve the tension on my face. I could not help but reminiscence about my own past when watching this young woman and her scythe, for whether she was aware or not, her fighting style was not really created for the purpose of fighting Grimm.  
It was a style meant to slaughter other human beings.

We did not have theoretical classes on Saturday, but instead our very first combat lecture. Team JNPR and RWBY were walking down the school corridors towards the fighting arena. I guess that we kind of bonded over our trials during initiation. Both our teams tended to hang out with each other during meals or class, if our schedules overlapped. It was an arrangement that I felt quite comfortable with.  
"So guys, any plans about what to do on the weekend?" Yang asked. As always the blonde sounded a little bit detached from everything around her, but in a decidedly friendly manner.  
"I will have to deepen my studies about dust-reactions. The books I've found in the library have proven to be excellent research material – and I always thought that the books in my father's study were unique."  
Right. The library. Blessings upon you, Weiss Schnee. Almost forgot about checking it out. I blame Ozpin and his surveillance drones. I had to sacrifice two sleepless nights to map out their movement on the campus, although according to rumors he even had these mechanical pests scout parts of Vale.  
"I will be reading, too." Blake added.  
"But you won't be reading anything as boring as the stuff Weiss studies, will you?", said Ruby.  
Blake showed the shadow of a smile. "I don't think so."  
The Schnee heiress delved into one of her exasperated rants about the importance of knowledge and dedicated practice, fist on her hips and all huffing and indignant. I supported her notion wholeheartedly, though I found the delivery of her opinion to be too upper-class and stiff-lipped for my tastes. But perhaps that was just me. Jaune was gazing at the white-haired girl with an enraptured look on his face, but he was soon broken out of his revery when Yang drifted to us by slowing her gait almost imperceptibly.  
"It turns out that my team is full of boring book lovers and nerdy shut-ins. No fun at all, so please, throw a poor girl a bone and tell me that you guys actually plan on doing something exciting this weekend."  
"Errm", Jaune was scratching his head, "I think I will go through some of the textbooks about Remnants military history and Grimm anatomy. Classes the other day showed me that I have a lot of catching up to do."  
Another curious thing about Jaune. It was just as expected that the academic side at Beacon tended to emphasize the martial aspects in subjects like history, chemistry or physics. Instead of a broad approach typically found in civilian schools, the focus in history was on military matters, chemistry could as well be called applied dust study and its combat purposes and physics dealt almost exclusively with classical mechanics. The quality of more mundane subjects like math, common vernacular or non-Grimm biology suffered on the other hand. While Jaune seemed to struggle with most subjects that veered too close to combat, he found room to shine in the mundane classes. His grasp on differentials and integrals even surprised our math teacher Mrs Topaz, who clearly did not expect any student in her class to formulate a proof for Pythagoras' theorem that way.  
Yang meanwhile, was complaining. "What's up with all this studious attitude? It's our first weekend at Beacon, guys. We survived Initiation. We don't have classes. The weather is great and the nightlife in Vale is rife for the picking. We should rock the city, but no, all you want to do is stick your heads between pages."  
She turned to Pyrrha, her face aglow. "What about you, champ? Care about giving Vale's nightclubs a try? Believe me, with our looks we will turn heads left and right and leave a trail of broken hearts. And if some of the guys get grabby, we can always break their bones, too." She grinned a devilish grin, like the canary that ate the cream.  
"I'm sorry, Yang. Your idea sounds quite... fun, but I think it is my duty to help my team leader catch up with his studies." She threw Jaune a pained grin.  
"Of course. Well, if you are okay with helping me, Pyrrha, I would totally appreciate that."  
Pyrrha made a relieved face and the blonde brawler sighed. "You are all hopeless."  
"Yang, Nora and I plan on visiting a certain dance club tonight."  
Everybody froze in their tracks. Nora zipped to my side and started to motormouth: "We are going to party? Really? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"  
I ignored her for the moment. "You seem to be quite familiar with the night scene in Vale and we are still new here. Would you like to show us around?"  
It took Yang and the rest of team RWBY several seconds to close their mouths. "Er, sorry, Ren. I didn't know you could speak so much at once and I certainly didn't peg you as the partying type."  
I guess I could not fault them for their opinion.  
"But yeah, sure. I would love to show you some hot stuff. So, do you already have a club in mind?"  
"Yes."  
"You do?", asked Nora.  
"Which one?"  
"Junior's bar."  
This time, it was only Yang who stiffened. Her violet eyes became sharp.  
"Is there some reason you want to visit that club in particular?"  
Judging from her reaction, she had some history with that establishment. Interesting.  
Suddenly Ruby barged in on the conversation. "Hey Yang, isn't that the Club you teared up about three weeks ago?"  
The blonde started to play with the yellow mass that was her hair. It was the third time I saw her do that. Seemed to be an avoidance strategy, albeit not a very successful one.  
"Well, yes, I suppose." This time, all eyes were on her.  
"Wait, you destroyed a whole club?" Weiss sounded incredulous. "As in, you punched everything into smithereens?"  
"Well..."  
"Sorry Yang, but is that what usually happens when you go partying?" There was some steel in Pyrrha's voice now. "That doesn't sound like good conduct for a Huntress-in-training."  
The blonde put up her hands in defense. "Come on, stop the witch-hunting. I just let loose a little bit and they had it coming anyway. The bar and the owner are total lowlifes."  
"So they provoked you first?", Weiss probed.  
"Well... not exactly."  
Pyrrha and the rest of team RWBY threw her reproachful looks.  
"Yang, smashing a club to bits while partying sounds like total fun to me. Me and Magnhild are in."  
Spirits and forefathers beware. "Please Nora, don't do that."  
"But she did it, too." She ran up to Yang and put her face near hers. "You had fun when smashing up things, didn't you?"  
The blonde hesitated for a moment. Then her face split into a wide, sunny grin. "It definitely made my day." Blake, Weiss and Pyrrha all palmed their faces at the same time. Ruby meanwhile was scuffling her feet. She probably felt embarrassed on behalf of her sister.  
But the reactions of the people around were secondary concerns. I had to prevent a catastrophe from happening. I took Storm Flower out of my sleeves and put them in Nora's hands. "Nora, I just remembered, but could you still add the additional feature to my weapons? And finish it by today?"  
"But Ren, I thought we were going to party."  
And inflict untold property damage on the urban landscape of Vale? No chance.  
"Nora, if you manage to finish it by today, so that I can test it out tomorrow, I will make you as many pancakes as you want, with whipped cream and orange jam."  
Now that she found an enabler for her destructive urges, I needed to go for heavy ammunition.  
"Pancakes? Yours?" She started to drool. "As much as I want?"  
I nodded and prayed to the heavens that the kitchen was sufficiently stocked.  
"Ruby?" I turned my attention to RWBY's team leader.  
"Yes?"  
"You are good with weapons?"  
Her youthful features lit up. "Yes, I totally love weapons."  
Thought so. The way she handled her scythe and did the maintenance was quite telling. And Jaune already let it slip that she build her weapon by herself. "Would you mind helping Nora with upgrading my pistols? I will bake you cookies. With chocolate chips. As much as you want."  
This time, it was Ruby who ran up to me until she was face to face. "You are entrusting your weapons to me - and bribing me with my favorite sweets?"  
"Yes."  
"Uhuuh", she gave me a probing gaze. "I think I like you."  
"Deal?"  
She gave me an infectious grin. "Deal."  
She disappeared in a puff of rose petals only to reappear beside Nora. "Ooookay", the small team leader coed. "Now show me the blueprints..." and seconds later, the two smallest girls with the biggest weapons were engrossed in the eclectic art of weapon design.  
I wiped cold sweat from my forehead. Catastrophe prevented. For now.  
Letting Nora bond with Ruby over smithing should cause less collateral damage than letting her bond with Yang over smashing up things... as long as both of them did not decide to design weapons of mass destruction. Still, the blonde should be considered a constant threat to lead Nora down the dark side – and by extension doom Vale's infrastructure to the fate of atomization.  
"I underestimated you, silent one." said Yang. "And how did you know about Ruby's preferences? I have never seen you talk with her until now."  
"Observation."  
She obviously waited for me to say more, but when I stayed silent, she shrugged her shoulders. "Do you still want to come party with me? I can show you the way to Junior's, but I don't want to go in if its not absolutely necessary."  
"We can visit Junior's bar at the end. I don't mind dancing."  
She flashed me a grin. "Tonight 10 pm, and don't you chicken out."

When the combat arena filled up, drop after drop until all first years were seated, the anticipation became palpable. In the end, almost all students here were physical beings, persons who pursued action over knowledge. For the first time since initiation, they had a chance to display the skills that truly put them into this prestigious place.  
Jaune was tense, Pyrrha was relaxed and Nora was brimming with barely contained excitement. All as expected.  
"Good morning students." Glynda Goodwitch's clipped voice echoed across the fighting hall. "I welcome you to your first HvH combat class here at Beacon. In contrast to all your other classes, you won't get marks here. Instead your performance is reflected in a ranking system which will play no small role in determining the level of your Hunter license you acquire after graduating from Beacon." She paused and swept her eyes through all students present. "Today's class will not be included in the ranking, but starting next week every single fight of yours will count. There will be no team fights today. Instead, use this occasion to get a feel for the abilities of your classmates."  
She continued to lay down rules and regulations which were more or less standard fare for controlled tournament-style fights. Pyrrha should be right in her element. The moment Professor Goodwitch was finished with her explanation, Ozpin entered the arena.  
This time, nearly all students present tensed up and the occasional whisper swelled up to a continuous murmur.  
The headmaster chuckled. "Please, don't let my presence bother you. Just keep going, Glynda."  
The female professor nodded sharply. "Are there any volunteers?"  
Silence. After several painful seconds, she sighed. "In that case, I will call up two students for the very first duel." She paused. "Cardin Winchester versus Ruby Rose. As team leaders I suggest that you set up a good example."  
The very first fight and I got to see Ruby in action. Not bad at all.  
As both fighters settled on the arena ground their demeanor could not have been more different. Cardin was the very picture of arrogance. He sneered at the younger girl and made some experimental swings with his gigantic mace to intimidate her. Ruby on the other hand, displayed what could only be called stage-fright. The rest of team RWBY shouted their encouragement and Jaune and Nora also chimed in, but the little red riding hood did not cease to look around nervously, while fumbling with the whole of her body and mumbling incoherent words.  
Professor Goodwitch did not pay any heed to Ruby's distress. She warned both duelists to give her a clean and fair match before signaling them to start.  
Cardin was the first to attack. A straight dash followed by a mighty swing of his mace. It was a solid offense supported by power and speed.  
It was also laughably easy to anticipate.  
The moment Cardin's weapon made contact with Ruby's Scythe, the girl switched modes.  
A spinning red blur that moved in harmony with a spinning crimson beak, a crash and Cardin laid flattened on the ground and about half of his energy was gone.  
A picture perfect counterattack. RWBY's team leader did not block Cardin's attack. Instead, she used the energy of his swing to initiate her own attack by placing the tail of her scythe on exactly the right angle. The subsequent clash of weapons put her – weapon and girl – in a lightning fast spinning motion that ended up with Cardin on the ground and a neat little crater around him.  
In accordance to tournament rules, she did not attack her enemy while he was down – a situation which would never occur in a fight between life and death. I reminded myself that this was still a school.  
Both fighters continued after Cardin finally managed to stand again. What followed could only be called a slaughter. Ruby performed an attacking sequence that was part of her training regimen and all Cardin could do was blocking the blows with no chance to retaliate – for all of two seconds.  
Then, she broke his guard and the hungry blade teared through the rest of his Aura like a buzz saw. A beeping sound was heard, signaling the end of the fight. Both team RWBY and JNPR began to clap. The rest of the first years soon followed.  
I did not move a muscle, for there was a long forgotten feeling stirring inside me. A feeling that heated up my blood.  
"An impressive display of skill Ms Rose." Glynda Goodwitch gave praise where praise was due.  
Then she turned towards Cardin, who pushed himself up for the second time.  
"Lucky shot", he sneered.  
Professors Goodwitch's eyes became sharp. "Hardly lucky, Mr Winchester. There was actually a very important reason I pitted you against Ms Rose. Despite your different build both of you fulfill similar combat roles in melee considering that your weapons are very heavy and extremely lethal if they connect. Now Mr Winchester, care to explain why you lost that fight with your Aura level at nine percent while Miss Rose is completely unscathed?"  
The guy grimaced like he swallowed something sour, but kept his mouth shut. He did not seem like the brightest bulb, but he at least understood that 'lucky shot' was the wrong answer.  
Professor Goodwitch turned to the rest of the class to continue her lecture. "The answer is skill. Ms Rose is physically much weaker and although our Aura can compensate this deficit in strength to a certain degree, Mr Winchester is also an Aura-user. Combined with his bigger mass and greater strength, he should have been able to brave Ms Rose blow for blow. Instead he was completely overpowered. Why?"  
This time she was addressing all of us. Pyrrha was the first to raise her hand.  
"Yes, Ms Nikos?"  
"The answer is twofold. First by adding the force of the enemy to her own. Second, by continuously moving her Scythe in a circular motion."  
"What is the advantage of moving a weapon in a circular motion, Ms Nikos?"  
Pyrrha straightened herself. "Physically, every strike we perform gains force through acceleration, which means that they have to travel a given distance until they become effective. This distance is limited due to the limited range of our limbs or the length of our weapons. In contrast, a circling motion is at least in theory without end which means endless acceleration. There are still practical limitations, but it provides much more distance for any given strike to travel and build up momentum."  
Impressive. Most people who learned martial-arts grasped the distinct advantage of circular motions, but few fighters could put it into actual words.  
"Thank you very much, Ms Nikos. Now, I want every single one of you to contemplate the two points we raised. All of you finished initiation, so killing Ursas or Beowolves should be simple, but there exist Grimm that are much, much tougher. These creatures will resist your regular attacks, so you need force-multipliers to break their defenses. What Ms Rose demonstrated are two such options, but performing them correctly without leaving your own defenses wide open takes training, dedication and no small amount of skill. If you decide to integrate these concepts into your fighting styles, you have to keep in mind that you will have to work for it."  
She swept her gaze across the class again. "Who is next?"  
I felt my left arm raise itself.  
"Mr Lie, is it? Glad you volunteered. Who wants to be..."  
"Professor Goodwitch", I interrupted her, "I want to fight Ruby Rose."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Glossary**
> 
> Neidan (内 丹) : Is part of the Chinese branch of alchemy. Both Eastern and Western alchemy had surprisingly similar goals: The transmutation of worthless materials into gold and silver as well as finding a prescription for the elixir of life. While the Western tradition solely focused on external means to reach these goals, the Eastern tradition also incorporated the refinement of body, mind and spirit to reach the lofty goal of immortality. One way to reach this kind of refinement was through the intense practice of internal martial-arts (neijiagong) - not as a tool to fight and kill - but merely a stepping stone to make the own body a vessel fit for becoming ageless.  
> These internal quests for immortality became exaggerated and mystified over time and at some point, it was believed that certain practitioners who pursued the way of Internal Alchemy literally turned their own bodies into a kind of living, breathing chemical lab. By manipulating their inner energy, physiological processes and imbibed chemical agents, they were able to transmute said chemicals into purified or energized matter. This matter was either used for self consumption or spit out to be used by others. In the light of these superhuman feats, the term of neidan is sometimes coined 'Physiological Alchemy'.


	8. Killer instinct

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Through the eyes of an assassin - a RWBY fanfiction

"I want to fight Ruby Rose."  
The whispers around me swelled in a smooth crescendo. I saw Professor Goodwitch starting to raise an objection, but Ozpin put a hand on her shoulder. She turned around, her face a study in prim displeasure, but the headmaster merely shook his head.  
He was curious. Like me.  
I turned to my partner. "Nora, my weapons?"  
She gave me a slightly embarrassed grin. "Ruby is holding them."  
That was also convenient. I walked down and entered the ring.  
Professor Goodwitch pushed up her glasses. "Very well, Mr Ren. Due to Ms Rose not suffering any damage in her previous fight, we shall allow her to fight another round. Are you comfortable with this arrangement, Ms Rose?"  
The small team leader shrugged. "It's okay." She turned towards me and I saw her squint her eyes. "Honestly, I think fighting you could actually be fun. You won't go down after two hits like the last one, will you?"  
I could not help but smile a little. Her words could be perceived as boastful or even arrogant, but Ruby was the very picture of blunt innocence. It seemed like she earnestly wanted a challenge.  
I intended to give her exactly what she wanted.  
"Are the fighters ready?" Ruby nodded her assent, but I stood still.  
"You are not going to draw your weapon?", the small team leader asked.  
"Nora told me that you are carrying them right now."  
Watching the myriad of emotions race across her face was kind of amusing. "Right, sorry. I totally forgot." She rummaged inside her cape and drew out Storm Flower. "I hope you don't mind, but I already studied their functions and I also asked Nora about your fighting style. It's..."  
"...okay. What you did was appropriate."  
She gave me a quizzical look. "Right. Here you go." She walked over and returned Storm Flower. I bowed to her as I took them back.  
Professor Goodwitch and Ozpin observed our little exchange with mild amusement. "Are the fighters ready?" Our combat instructor asked.  
Both of us nodded.  
She pushed up her glasses. "Very well... begin!"  
I barely started my combat breathing cycle and the crimson beak was already upon me, ready to tear into my body. I stepped out of the way of the overhead strike, but instead of slowing down the blade, it buried itself into the arena ground with a loud crash. The red riding hood pressed her attack, using her weapon as an anchor to launch herself along the shaft to perform a double legged kick. I threw Storm Flower out of my sleeves at the last second, barely blocking her vicious attack as the impact launched me about three meters backwards.  
I also felt the sensation of metal against metal. Her combat boots were weapons grade.  
Ruby used the backlash of her attack to perform a back flip on the scythe-handle, utilizing the energy of her backward movement to rip the massive weapon out of the ground. The screeching and clanking of actuators was heard as she transformed her scythe midair. As she reached the apex of her jump, she brandished her weapon in a configuration that I had not seen before.  
The dark maw of a barrel pointed straight at me was the only indication of danger.  
The folded monstrosity of black-red gunmetal roared and a high impact round detonated at the ground I was previously standing on. I rolled and weaved around her rifle shots, mixing it up with some return fire from Storm Flower, but she used the recoil of her weapon to stay on the move above ground, combining it with bursts of her Semblance that apparently allowed her to defy gravity as she shot through the air in dizzying bursts of perfectly straight lines, leaving behind clouds upon clouds of rose petals.  
My guns were not that accurate anyway when trying to hit targets beyond twelve meters, which is why I did not manage to score even a glancing shot.  
Ruby did not give me time to contemplate my poor marksmanship either, for the moment she put her feet on the ground, she disappeared in a puff of rose petals again. I changed the grip on Storm Flower to a backhanded one and saw a red streak at my right flank. A millisecond later, another shot was heard and the massive blade seemed to blur and invert as it changed direction. I raised my guard to the left side, crossing my dual weapons to use as a makeshift shield just as the spiked backside of Ruby's scytheblade flew at me in a diagonal cut, powered up by the recoil of her in-build rifle.  
It was comparable to one of Nora's hammer swings when she was at her best. The sheer force behind her blow was insane. The tail behind the scythe-beak hit my block with the force of a steam powered, machinated sledgehammer. I felt my body flying, but managed to stabilize myself midair. I pumped qi into my legs and expelled it just the moment my feet met the arena wall, cushioning me and cratering the stone-barrier separating the dueling ground from the audience.  
Fighting this girl was even trickier than I originally thought. I glanced at the board and saw my energy bar at 71 percent.  
It could have been much, much worse. The last attack that send me flying would have crushed me if I had not seen her use it during practice. A two stage attack opening up with a slash on one side, only to reverse its direction at the last moment to attack the opposite flank. These kind of high speed feints were usually something warriors performed with lightweight swords. Only the fact that she could utilize high impact recoil with extraordinary skill made such a maneuver possible on a weapon as heavy as hers.  
It was also another hint that her fighting style was not meant for Grimm. By using that feint she sacrificed force for deception, because she had to nullify the energy of her Semblance powered charge first.  
Ruby was exchanging her ammunition chamber and letting her weapon cool off. I took the small lull in combat to draw breath and weight my options. I also rubbed my left arm which took the brunt force of her last swing. It felt sore and swollen.  
Revising conjecture from before: Ruby was probably skilled enough to redirect part of her charging force into the reverse blow. There was no way in hell the last attack could hit like a freight train by relying on recoil alone.  
I was a little tempted to throw the fight.  
My enemy was faster, stronger, possessed the bigger gun and the bigger qi-pool. Skill wise our fighting styles were far too different to be directly compared, but there was no doubt that she was _skilled_.  
But the blood hammered inside my body and it seemed like my head was blanketed by a transparent cloth that put everything into sharp relief. Anticipation and elation filled every fiber of my being and I bathed in the glow of a sensation that I long thought lost - the lust for battle.  
I intensified my combat breathing cycle, directing qi into my hands, enveloping them in a layer of force. I heard whispers among the students and one look at the board told me why: My energy bar was shrinking by itself, but I pushed the observation aside focusing all my senses towards the little girl in red.  
I let Storm Flower fall to the ground, eliciting another wave of murmurs and even slight outcries. My body fell into a stance I had not used for a long time, but in martial arts the memory of the body was more reliable than the memory of the mind. I placed my feet perpendicular to the enemy and turned my upper torso ninety degrees to face her.  
I started to walk, not towards, but around her. Let my enemy be the center.  
The distance between us was about twenty meters, so the circle I started to walk was appropriately big. I saw Ruby furrow her brows, a look of confusion on her face. My raised palms were a clear sign that I wished to continue the fight, but I guess it could seem slightly insane that someone was willing to face her scythe bare handed.  
Let her be confused. Every little bit of advantage helped.  
She opened up her next attack wave with another volley of rifle shots, but I merely adjusted the speed of my circling walk, sometimes slowing, sometimes accelerating, sometimes crouching, sometimes sliding - but always facing her.  
Let my steps flow like water.  
My enemy soon became frustrated. She unfolded her weapon into blade mode again, balancing the shaft on her left shoulder, letting the tip of the crimson beak dip lightly on the ground.  
The cloud of red petals was all the warning I needed. I pivoted on my right foot to change direction abruptly, transferring the energy of my turn to my arms. A palm blow against the flat side of the approaching blade was sufficient to let the weapon overshoot and crash into the ground, denying her the second attack that I knew would follow. Ruby's form stiffened, her first sign of distress during our duel, but as she took precious moments to rip her scythe out of the ground, I had already tightened the circle, reducing the radius to barely a meter, walking straight into her blind spot that was her back.  
She performed a sweeping motion with her weapon, spinning around herself to chase me away from her rear, but I was too close for the scythe to be effective. My hands met the handle of her weapon instead of the blade and I simply side-flipped over her attack, followed by a lightning fast dive into a crouching stance. My right palm changed into a hook and as I rose from my crouch to continue the circling walk, my arm swept away her right leg in a single flowing motion.  
My enemy was unbalanced and her weapon overextended and I was once again walking into her blind spot.  
Time to seal the deal.  
I stretched my left arm, lightly touching her left shoulder with my wrist. After that, I closed my eyes to focus all my concentration on my sense of touch and my sense of qi.  
A roundhouse kick aimed at my temple, but I denied it by stepping on her pivoting foot and pinning it on the ground.  
A backhand slap, but I neutralized it before it even began by gluing myself to her back, walking with her motion.  
A reverse overhead strike of her scythe that was laughably easy to avoid as I walked towards her side and dealt a palm blow against her neck.  
A shrugging motion to shake of the point of contact between my wrist and her body, but I moved along and stabbed my elbow against her side while doing the walk.  
Another spinning attack, but I slid under the swing and changed my walking direction to disorient her, dealing another palm blow against her throat as her guard opened.  
A charge of her Semblance to open up the distance between us, but I was already holding on the handle of her scythe as the acceleration kicked in. I felt the rush of air and the disruption of blood flow as my body dealt with the G-force. I released my grip on her scythe just before she took a brake on her dash, so my body would not lose its momentum.  
Use the force of the enemy against himself - or herself. I opened my eyes and took hold of her hood. The force of my momentum was strong enough to pull Ruby straight into the air. I did not know what kind of material her hood was made of, but it was extremely resilient.  
It proved to be her undoing.  
I flipped her over my head by gripping the cape - all the while choking her - until she smashed to the ground with a resounding crash, person and weapon together.  
The buzzer sounded for the second time.  
I looked towards the screen. Ruby's energy level was down to 13%. She could have shrugged off the force of the throw with her immense qi-pool, but being deprived of air made one vulnerable.  
I slowed down qi-circulation and calmed my mind. It took me some seconds until I noticed that the arena was eerily quiet. Ruby's coughing broke the silence. "That was mean." She mumbled between gasps.  
"Mr Lie, I am at a loss whether I should congratulate you or disqualify you." This time it was Professor Goodwitch who spoke. "Your display of pure skill was outstanding, but we do not tolerate potentially lethal moves during sparring and a choking attack falls under that category. As this is just a mock fight, the outcome will not count towards your ranking, but this is the first and last time that you will receive a warning. Am I understood?"  
Old habits died hard. I still instinctively went for weak points and fatal ones at that. "Yes ma'am."  
She turned to Ruby. "Ms Rose, do you require medical care?"  
The small team leader shook her head. "I am OK. My neck is a little bit sore but otherwise...", She gave me another quizzical lock. "I never had such a strange and frustrating fight before."  
The fortunes of battle could turn on the drop of a hat. "I am sorry for the last move." I bowed to her. "No hard feelings?"  
"Well, uncle always says that my hood will be my downfall some day." She shrugged. "I had it coming."  
Professor Goodwitch pushed up her glasses. "If both of you are well, please retrieve your weapons and return to your seats."  
"Yes Professor", we chorused. Then we did as told.  
Our team mates had mixed reactions upon our return. Yang immediately pulled her sister into a bear hug. She also threw me an icy glare. Jaune looked at me with a combination of awe and trepidation, Blake and Pyrrha seemed mystified and Weiss' face was a stoic mask.  
And Nora? She did her best to dispel the tension.  
"Reeeen, Ruuuuuby, both of you were totally awesome out there. Now I also want to smash someone up."  
I gave in to temptation and rolled my eyes. Ruby scratched the back of her head looking embarrassed. "I still lost in the end."  
"Oh believe me, you almost had him. The only reason you lost was because you gave him time to think when you were reloading Crimson Rose – which is a totally awesome name. But the way you attacked him in the beginning was totally the right thing to do. Don't leave him any room to breathe or collect himself. Otherwise he comes up with something strange and sneaky. When fighting Ren, never let him do something strange or sneaky, or you somehow lose the fight despite being stronger, faster and generally more awesome than him."  
I gave her my most deadpan expression. "Nora, you are supposed to be my partner."  
She ran to Ruby and pulled her close. "Don't underestimate the power of girl bonding. Especially when sweets and weapons are involved."  
The small team leader blushed when faced with Nora's display of affection, but she looked genuinely pleased and gave a thumps up. "Just like she said."  
"Ms Valkyrie, are you quite finished with disrupting class?"  
My partner faced our combat instructor and gave her an awkward smile. "I think so."  
Professor Goodwitch's glare reached sub-zero levels. "In that case, let us continue with the lecture."  
Nora gave off a yelp and sat down, while professor Goodwitch's voice silenced any remaining whispers coursing around. "The question this time is the same as last time: How did Mr Lie win his fight, despite the fact that his opponent is faster, stronger and...”, she gave Nora another harsh gaze, “...generally more awesome than him?"  
Her last words, spoken in a completely desiccated tone, drew out bouts of laughter from the students gathered. I did not join the laughter, for I tried to digest the revelation that Professor Glynda Goodwitch actually possessed a sense of humor.   
Nevertheless, it was my turn to see my fighting style dissected. Luckily, the martial art system I used against Ruby is one that I seldom applied in situations of life and death. Baguazhang was a style tailored for counter punchers and pretty suitable in controlled one-on-one duels, but outside of that? When serious, I preferred to attack my enemies in ways that did not leave them any room to attack back.  
The best defense was an overwhelming offense.  
"Nobody?" Professor Goodwitch's voice was tinged with a small dose of disappointment.  
Blake hesitantly raised her hand.  
"Yes, Ms Belladonna?"  
"I think the key to his victory were his steps. In the beginning, Ruby was overwhelming him with her superior weapon and even blocking her attacks were too costly, so he instead turned to evasion." She paused and turned to me, her gaze focused, thoughtful and inquisitive.  
"Please continue", our combat instructor prodded.  
"There are two key elements to his evasion technique: He walked in a circle and always put his opponent in the center and his steps were also special. They distorted his leg movements and made an observer either under- or overestimate the speed his body was orbiting around."  
And I thought Pyrrha Nikos was impressive. The circling was obvious, but I honestly did not expect any student to see through the intricacies of my mud-walk. The dark haired girl either had pretty sharp eyes or she happened to be very familiar with evasive maneuvers.  
Well, the components of her hybrid weapon - kurigasama and ninjato - were traditionally used by assassins, so perhaps Blake Belladonna deserved some extra scrutiny. On the other hand, her whole appearance was simply too obvious: I gave her props for being able to walk as silently as she did while wearing high heels, but she carried her weapon openly instead of hiding it and that did not even cover the travesty of hybridizing her kurigasama-ninjato combo with a gun. I merely use guns to fit in and they were troublesome to use, but given the few glimpses I caught about her skill, she was clearly comfortable with all components of her chosen weapon.  
If she was an assassin like me, she needed a serious lesson in subtlety.  
“I want to direct your attention to Mr Lie's circling walk.” Professor Goodwitch's clipped voice pulled me back to the lecture at hand. “I have mentioned dangerous Grimm before and how you may need force multipliers to penetrate their defenses. Circling around such a Grimm – as long as its not one capable of flying - is a tactic that may allow you to stay alive. If done right like Mr Lie demonstrated, it denies your enemy the opportunity to attack anything in front of them and most ground based Grimm are indeed at their most dangerous, if faced from the front.”   
“Did the professor just compare me to a dangerous Grimm?”, Ruby murmured.   
Given the viciousness of that scythe, I could not help but agree with our instructor's off handed assessment.   
One of the students raised her hand. A member of team IDGO. “Sorry Professor, but Grimm usually come in packs or hordes, but this circling tactic seems to be effective only if there is one single enemy around.”   
Our instructor nodded her approval. “An excellent point, Ms Aurum. By keeping this restriction in mind, you can devise an overall hunting strategy by eliminating the weaker Grimm in the vicinity first, before you apply this tactic on the lead Grimm. Of course that only holds true, if there really is only one lead Grimm which is why reconnaissance is of the utmost importance.”  
She pushed up her glasses. “There is another crucial point about the circling tactic. Understand that the reason why Mr Lie gained the upper hand in the duel was not merely because he literally walked circles around Ms Rose and managed to evade her attacks with superior footwork. The true key to his fighting technique is the combination of evasion and offense into one. Surely, you have noticed that throughout most of the fight, Mr Lie's upper body was oriented in a 90 degree angle to his lower body?”   
Oh boy. This woman was the HvH combat instructor for a reason.   
“The take home message is the following: It is not sufficient to merely run circles around your target. You need to be able to attack it at the same time without stopping your evasive maneuvers. And the attacks need to hurt, for otherwise why should the Grimm even bother to turn his attention to you?” She turned her sharp gaze to me. “Mr Lie, how many years of training did it take for you to perform your technique on the level you just displayed?”   
“Four.” I did not even need to lie.   
“This should give you a measure how difficult it is to combine a continuous evasion with an effective offense. If any of you decide to take this tactic as inspiration, you need to train and consider your progress constantly, for otherwise you will only end up as a smear on the ground.”   
And now she shot out morbid remarks. I was beginning to like her teaching style.   
Professor Goodwitch glanced at her scroll. “We still have time for one more match. Ms Valkyrie, your enthusiasm has not gone unnoticed. I suggest you also partake in a duel.”   
As the saying goes: Our instructor just ordered Nora to volunteer.   
"Of course!” She was practically squealing. “That will be fun!”  
"Are there any volunteers willing to face Ms Valkyrie?"  
It took less than a second for a challenger to appear. "I am."  
It was Yang Xiaolong.  
I retreated into my seat and relaxed my sore muscles. That could be a fight worth watching.

Only one week after the start of the semester and I was called into the principal's office again, although this time I had company at least. RWBY's team leader sat in front of Ozpin's desk, a picture of exuberant energy while I opted to stand on the side. I contemplated about the girl in red and black, watched her relaxed demeanor and the expectant expression on her face, almost as if she was meeting a favourite uncle who was going to give her a cute puppy as a birthday present.   
This was not the first time she was sitting face to face with Beacon's headmaster and apparently, she did not consider him a threat at all.   
Was that ignorance, trust, audacity or all of them rolled into one?  
“Hello again, Ruby,” Ozpin showed a conspiratorial smile before inclining his head to me. “And hello to you, Mr Lie.”   
“Are we in trouble?”, the small team leader asked, though her voice sounded completely carefree.   
The headmaster raised his coffee mug and took a small sip. “I don't think so. It just so happened that two very unique students faced off against each other and their consequent battle gave me interesting insights that I feel should be addressed rather sooner than later.”  
“Eh, Okay? Is it about the warning Professor Goodwitch gave him? That's no issue at all, Ren already apologized and it was in the heat of the moment.”  
“That's a small part of why both of you are here, but I daresay that the finishing move Mr Lie used on you...”, and here he gave me another one of his inscrutable looks, “...was not done in the heat of the moment.”   
I suppressed a gulp as my throat dried. Ruby looked between me and Ozpin and her expression betrayed the first waver of confidence. “What do you mean?”  
“Ruby Rose,” Ozpin raised his voice and completely ignored her question, “when I asked you about your ambition of becoming a huntress, you said among other things, that it 'was so much more romantic and awesome'...”   
Sounds like her alright.   
“...and I could not help but wonder about your choice of words. Why 'romantic'?”   
She recovered quite quickly from the change in topics. She turned to the headmaster and answered: “Well, I always wanted to be the hero in the stories I read as a child. The brave and righteous knight who saves the princess and the kingdom, slays the dragon and lives happily ever after. Being a Huntress fits that ideal.”  
I frowned. Being driven by simplified ideals to such an extent was dangerous. It made one extremely sharp – and brittle.  
“And in those stories,” Ozpin noted, “the righteous hero follows certain rules. He helps and defends the weak, he upholds the law, he saves lives and he does not kill... his fellow man. Is that right?”   
Ruby nodded, but her expression was a study in confusion. I sighed inwardly, for I was slowly getting a handle on what Ozpin was trying to accomplish here.   
“When I put you two years ahead I did it not solely because of your exceptional fighting skills, Ruby, but also to put you into an environment that had less risk of you endangering your fellow students.”   
This time, she looked openly hurt. “Endanger?”   
“Tell me Ruby, during your time at Signal, how many students could actually keep up with you once Qrow helped you master your scythe?”   
That question silenced any further protest she was going to declare as realization dawned on her. “There were accidents with Aura depletion and sometimes I actually cut people.” She frowned. “Nothing serious, but with Aura and all, real wounds are usually a non-issue in sparring fights.”   
She did flatten a student who had two additional years of official combat training over her – in about three moves and he was a team leader to boot. Imagining her going against her own age group? If there wasn't another prodigy lurking around at Signal, she probably suffered from a heavy lack of competition.  
Ozpin nodded gravely. “There are several reasons why the hybrid scythe-rifle is not part of the official curriculum in any combat school. Building and maintaining such a weapon is costly, there are almost no qualified instructors, hurting yourself seriously during training is a common occurrence, but most of all is the fact that this is an all-or-nothing weapon. You either go out fully or you undercut the many advantages it actually provides.”   
Ruby was the first scythe wielder I ever encountered, but after considering everything I have seen about her fighting style, I agreed with Ozpin's assessment.   
The headmaster raised his mug again, but this time he took a heavy gulp. “Ruby, when we met, I called the scythe one of the most dangerous weapon ever designed. Unluckily, it seems in your case that the weapon chose the wielder and not the other way. If you are committed to follow the mastery of the scythe to the bitter end, I fear that you will not be able to uphold the ideals that inspired you to become a huntress in the first place.”   
“What do you mean?”   
“It's simple”, I chimed in. “Being a Huntress is a tough and dangerous job. To survive in the business, you will probably be forced to do missions that are most suited to your abilities.”  
I raised a finger and pointed at the folded form of Crescent Rose. “You might use this weapon for hunting or exterminating Grimm, but the place where it truly belongs is a human battlefield. This is a weapon of war and war in its essence is man's struggle to overcome his fellow man.”   
“Thank you Mr Lie. I could not have put it better.”   
“Professor Ozpin, are you saying that just because I picked up the scythe I am destined to become a killer? Then, why did you pick me for your school at all?”  
“Beacon educates promising students to become the kind of heroes you find in your stories, Ruby. I like to call these kind of warriors Guardians. But please realize that this is not the full extent of Beacon's curriculum. Guardians are essential to uphold a certain image...,” and this time, Ozpin was looking straight at me, “...but there are other paths a Huntsman or Huntress can take and after your duel with Mr Lie, I am confident that both of you can help each other out in walking an alternate path to what you originally envisioned.”   
“I am not sure that's a good idea”, I pointed out. “Our fighting styles are completely different.”  
“True. But both of you share a trait that is rarely found in students that have not yet braved the perils of field experience. For a lack of a better word, I call it killer instinct.”   
Ruby flinched at the phrase, but I merely folded my arms. ”So, what do you propose we do, headmaster?”   
“I suggest that you meet up... let's say once every two weeks. Discuss your fighting styles and tactics, be open about each other on how you overcome your opponents. If you must, do a little bit of light contact sparring, but nothing as intense as what you displayed today in the arena. And most important of all: Give each other pointers about how to take the edge out of your respective fighting techniques while still preserving a certain measure of effectiveness. You should take the lead in regard to the last part of my request, Mr Lie. As far as control goes you are a few steps ahead in tempering the... lethality of your attacks.”  
I went through Ozpin's words in my head. “So in summary, you want us to hold back in sparring class and other public events to prevent lethal accidents and raised eyebrows, but still be competitive. At the same time you also want us to retain our killer instinct, but only outside the confines of the classroom?”  
“Exactly. What I demand of you is quite a balancing act. On the other hand, both of you are gifted and in my humble opinion up to the task.”   
Ozpin stapled his fingers. “Ruby, do not be ashamed of yourself. This is a combat school and in the end, all students here are conditioned to violence. Even the most glorious Guardian cannot avoid to dirty him- or herself. The two of you just have a knack for going farther towards overcoming your opponents than public opinion is comfortable with.”  
“But isn't killing your fellow humans going too far?”, said Ruby in an ashen voice.   
“In times of peace, your sentiment is certainly appreciated, but it is never wrong to be prepared for the worst case and ordering you to only fight with the blunt end of your scythe or the flat of its blade would be a disservice to your talent and all the work that your uncle has put into you.”   
Ozpin stood up, coffee mug in hand again. “Are there any further questions?”  
I shook my head. Ruby sat still like a statue.  
“Then I thank both of you for your patience. You are dismissed. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.”

It was inside the elevator when Ruby finally broke her silence. “Say Ren, have you ever killed somebody?”   
“Yes.” Usually, I would have lied, but somehow, an irrational part of myself wanted to grant her a small kernel of truth about myself.   
“Was it in self-defense?”   
“I would like to keep the specifics to myself. Perhaps one day, I will tell you more.”   
“Sorry, not really a good topic for small-talk.”   
“You are not bothered?”   
She gave me another quizzical look. “Hm, I guess that I should be bothered, but... I don't know. What Ozpin told me, it was a lot to take in and I feel confused.”   
I guess I could not fault her, but in the end, I approved of Ozpin's action. Ripping apart her childish ideals may be cruel, but that was still a mercy compared to when life itself did the deed.   
“I wonder if uncle knew about the dangers of teaching me his style.”   
Oh right, Ruby's mysterious uncle who thought it a good idea to introduce a prepubescent girl to the joy of scythe fighting. Must be quite an eccentric. “There is no way he would not know, Ruby. You do not master a fighting style without being aware of what exactly you can do with it.”   
The elevator door opened and we stepped out. “You do not sugarcoat anything, do you?”   
“It's a waste of words.”   
She began to giggle. “You know, when I met Ozpin, he kinda reminded me of uncle. And up there in the office, you kinda reminded me of Ozpin. I think that's why it does not bother me that you killed before.” She gave me a shaky smile. “I am sure you had a very good reason for what you did.”  
Her words nearly broke the calm inside me. I felt my heart constrict in face of her earnest and clumsy display of trust, but it was this clumsiness that made her words a thousand times more powerful than they had any right to be.   
My mind settled on a single word: Authenticity.   
It was something precious and I realized with a start that the similarities between Nora and Ruby ran deeper than body height, a preference for sweets and an unhealthy obsession with big weapons.  
“Say, Ren. There is one thing I do not understand about our duel.” She still sounded subdued compared to her usual self, but I could already hear her perking up again. “Why did you put your hand on my shoulder and how did you foresee all my attacks after that?”   
I gave her a little smile. “It was my wrist, not my hand. The technique can be translated as sticky body, but it's difficult to explain.”   
“Ozpin did say that we should help each other out and be open with our fighting styles.”   
“I know. Let's do our meeting in two weeks. I will prepare a demonstration to explain the concept.”   
“Deal?”   
“Deal, and Ruby? What I told you about me killing another human. Please keep it to yourself.”   
She paused for a moment. “Does Nora know?”   
“Yes.”  
“I see. Well, your secret is save with me.”   
I bowed to her. “Thank you.”


	9. Nightlife

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This chapter sees the introduction of the first OC who is more than just a side note. He will appear occasionally after his introduction, but I will do my best not to let him take center-stage. This is still Lie Ren's show after all.

I closed the buttons of my black waistcoat and gave my reflection inside the mirror a short, decisive nod. Black trousers and shoes, a silver chain adorning the waistcoat and a dark green shirt. Certainly an outfit that was a little bit more sharp than what I usually wore, but for facing Vale's nightlife it should be appropriate.  
"Reeen, you look awesome."  
"Thank you."  
Nora and Ruby were still tinkering with Storm Flower and the floor around them were strewn with blueprints, tools and mechanical parts. Jaune was buried in history homework and Pyrrha went around the room to make sure that everyone was properly hydrated and got occasional intakes of sugar.  
"And you are going out dancing without me. How can you be so cold?"  
"Nora, concentrate on finishing the upgrade. We have an agreement."  
My excitable partner attacked me with one of her weapon grade pouts, but I steeled my heart and endured. "Next time you go out to dance, I am sooo coming along."  
I turned to Pyrrha and gave her a meaningful look. She gazed back and seconds later, a smile played around her lips. She nodded back. "Next time, I think we should go dancing as a team", the redhead said.  
Bless you, Pyrrha Nikos.  
"OK. Sounds good. And I want my pancakes tomorrow, Ren."  
"Sure."  
"And don't forget my chocolate chip cookies", Ruby chimed in. After she entered our dorm to immerse herself in the eclectic art of weapon upgrading, her mood had significantly improved. Nora probably played a role. Her cheer was infectious on a bad day and positively contaminating otherwise.  
"I live to serve."  
Yang entered our room. "Hey Silent one, you ready?"  
"Yes" I took in her outfit: black and white biker jacket, black bloomers, thigh high socks with garters and violet accessories - a semitransparent cloth that stuck out from the right side of her hip and a bronze necklace with an inlaid amethyst. They were color-coordinated with her eyes. All in all, it was quite a get-up.  
Yang gave me an appreciative once over, before she jerked her thump towards the door. "Let's go."  
"Have a good time, Yang", Ruby said.  
The other occupants also said their goodbyes.  
Yang showed us a loop-sided grin. "Don't stay awake the whole night, sis. And see you around, nerds."  
Nora suddenly stood up. She struck a pose and pointed her finger straight at the blonde brawler. "Next time, victory will be mine, Yang Xiaolong."  
"Good luck with that, hammer maiden."  
We left the dorm wing in companionable silence, but it did not took long until the blonde started a conversation. "You and Nora are quite close, aren't you?"  
"Yes."  
"Well, its kind of strange, but somehow both of you fight similarly. Despite her carrying that crazy war hammer and you basically going bare handed."  
I turned to the blonde and gave her an inquisitive look. "How so?"  
"Well, both of you are much tougher than what your Aura would make me believe and there is something sneaky about the way both of you attack. You somehow do the unexpected."  
"You were not bad yourself. Nora is not an easy opponent to beat."  
"Say that again. She had me down on the ropes. I had to resort to my Semblance to win the duel."  
"Your Semblance. You mean, when you catch fire?"  
"Curious, Silent one?"  
As a matter of fact, I was. Visual effects notwithstanding, I had a hard time figuring out the mechanics of her qi-circulation, especially when she caught fire. It actually seemed like her qi reservoir spontaneously multiplied itself, which did not make any sense at all. Qi was an exhaustible resource inside our bodies and while it certainly replenished itself it did not simply became more all of a sudden. No, my senses were probably dulled after the fight against Ruby.  
"I can always observe."  
She smirked. "Then, that's what you will do. We are being ranked and I don't want to make things too easy for the competition."  
No matter the exact mechanics or magical aspects of her Semblance, the effect was more than impressive: Yang came on top when wrestling Nora without anyone of them using the recoil of their weapons as force multipliers. I shook my head at the absurdity, for I always considered Nora's physical strength to be completely inhuman and unmatched. But apparently, the old saying still held true: There was always someone better.  
We entered the garage and the blonde lead me to a massive bike painted to the likeness of flames. Its rear tire was far wider than the front one. I did not know much about motorcycles, but while drinking in the sight of that monstrosity I took some guesses.  
"Customized?"  
"Like you wouldn't believe. This is dad and mine's pet project. Meet Bumblebee."  
Strange name. A fire themed one would had been more fitting. But perhaps that was too obvious.  
Yang mounted her monster bike, swapped her scroll across the handlebars to undo the lock and revved the engine. The booming sound of a combustion engine echoed through the underground hall. She put on a bright yellow helmet out of a compartment at the right side, put on dark googles and finally turned her head around, giving me an expectant smirk.   
“Hop on!”   
I eyed her critically. “Spare helmet?”   
“My driving is totally safe.”   
“Sure.”   
“Come on, don't be a scaredy cat. If anything happens, you have your Aura to protect you.”   
“Aura does not work well when it comes to blunt or concussive trauma, which happens to be the kind of damage most likely to happen during a driving accident.”   
She folded her arms and gave me a glare. “Are you being difficult on purpose?”   
I sighed. “Just detecting some double-standard.” I mounted the gigantic bike, albeit with some reluctance.   
“You can hold on to me if it makes you feel safer.” The blonde haired brawler turned around and gave me a well practiced grin, equal parts challenging, mocking and flirtatious. “Just don't let your hands wander where they don't belong.”   
I kept my hands to myself and gave her a cool look. “I am good.”   
Yang cocked a single eyebrow. “Suit yourself, Silent one.” She revved up the engine again and brought the machine to life. As acceleration took over I almost gave in to temptation to just wrap my arms around the boisterous blonde, but even someone like me had his pride. I pumped qi into my legs and pressed them forcefully against the metal monstrosity.   
So began my first expedition into Vale's nightlife. 

Beacon's garage – though car park would be more appropriate – was connected to Vale via a tunnel which spiraled down to ground level. The school itself was situated atop a cliff and I had thought until today that the only way to reach it was through flight. As the artificial glow of neon light mounted on the tunnel walls flickered past me I was disabused of that notion.   
I leaned towards Yang getting a face full of vibrant blonde hair as a result. I endured it and raised my voice above the deafening engine sound. “Say, is this tunnel used by trucks?”   
“How did you guess?”   
“I doubt that school management employed construction workers to carve something like that into a cliff-side for the sole sake of allowing you to drive your bike onto school grounds.“   
“Wow, I think that was the longest sentence I have ever heard you say. Probably over twenty words.”  
“Thirty.”   
She turned her head slightly, just as we were reaching the end of the tunnel. “You seriously counted?”   
“Yes”, I deadpanned.   
We shot out into the city. The starry night sky parted before my sight like a diamond studded curtain of black eternity. We made good speed and I realized with some relief that Yang was indeed a safe driver. She did not treat traffic lights as mere suggestions and while she did accelerate her bike to the very edge of speed regulations, her handling never faltered or showed even the slightest hint of shoddy control.   
We stopped in front of a club called 'Freezer Burn'. The entrance was flanked by two burly bouncers in black trenchcoats. Broad shouldered, heavily muscled and crude qi-control. Another pair of cheap generic bodybuilders. Stairs with an aluminum sheen led straight down and the steady but dampened beat of amplified music was pulsing from beneath.   
Yang swaggered towards the stairs as if she owned the place. Her gait did interesting things with her hips and rear – the bouncers' gazes were literally glued to her ass – and we entered the place without any inconvenience.   
The sparsely populated dance floor was the first thing to greet my sight. The overall lighting was dim, almost plunging the place into darkness. Occasional streams of blue light rotated across the the dance hall like an oversized laser-scanner used to verify scroll-IDs. The dark outlines of the few people already here were sharply illuminated for but a brief moment before merging with the shadows again.  
I saw Yang changing direction, saw her move her lips and arms in greeting, heading straight to a trio of persons lounging on sofas in the far corner of the room. I followed her while trying to discern the identity of these newcomers. Emphasis on try. The lack of light made the task nearly impossible, but considering that their qi-signatures were easily Huntsmen level, it was not difficult to guess where they came from.  
When we reached the distant corner, the noise level had lowered enough for me to actually understand spoken, or rather shouted, words again.  
“Hey folks.” The boisterous blonde greeted the three students. Now that I was closer, I recognized two fellow first years. A girl from team IDGO, who had her arms wrapped possessively around a guy from team SLVA. I had yet to memorize their names, but in lieu of school work, training and mapping the entire Beacon campus for surveillance blind spots, I excused myself for not having started on all the dossiers about my fellow students yet.  
A stream of blue light washed over us again and I got my first good look at the last member of the student trio. She was a young woman who looked like a glamorous fashion model, although her gigantic and polished qi-pool - it was bigger than Yang's - was proof positive that she was part of Beacon's student body.  
She wore a black, stylishly asymmetrical dress with spaghetti straps that revealed a copious amount of well toned legs. The dress was studded with little crystals which formed a wave pattern that subtly accentuated her curves. At least I thought that the glittering stones were crystal. I refused to humor the possibility of them being actual diamond. Clothes made the person, sure, but there had to be a line somewhere when it came to fashion.   
The biggest oddity though was the beret she wore on her head. Compared to the rest of her get-up, it seemed cheap, crude, even out of place, but the asymmetrical ensemble, which continued in the way she wore her accessories, the way her massive scarf was draped around her and the way she styled her hair, turned the beret into another piece of her idiosyncratic appearance.  
She certainly made it look good.  
“Hey, Irika, Anthony still trying to get yourself busted for public indecency.”  
The brunette mock glared at the boisterous blonde before placing a wet kiss on the lips of her, well, probably boyfriend, who seemed content where he was. “Is that envy speaking, Yang?”  
“Nah, Anthony is cute, but he is not really my type. No reason to mark your territory, or is that lack of confidence speaking?”   
Irika rolled her eyes as both of us sat down.   
“I, for one, am glad you showed up.” The fashionista said. “Watching these two plastered on each other was starting to get old.” She gave Yang and me a cursory once over, before grinning. “Like your styles.” Her gaze rested on my lock of hair I dyed pink. “Especially yours.“   
I tilted my head in acknowledgment while locking my sight on her own dyed hair lock. Her grin widened.   
“So Irika, how about a round of introductions?” Yang said.   
The petite brunette smiled as she turned to the fashionista. “Coco, these two are fellow first years. This is Yang, from team RWBY. An friend of mine from Signal. I think I mentioned her in some of my letters.”   
“I remember, barely.” Coco crossed her legs and leaned slightly forward, resting her chin on a manicured hand. She wore nail polish, though I could not discern the color. Going by first impressions it was probably coordinated with the rest of her fashion ensemble. “Your team leader is that fifteen year old, right?”  
“Her name is Ruby, not 'that fifteen year old'.” Yang's expression turned aggressive.   
“Coco, Yang is her sister.”   
The fashionista took in the information from Irika like it was tomorrows weather forecast. “I see. Ruby it is.” She looked Yang in the eye. “I apologize.”   
“Apology accepted.”   
Irika cleared her throat loud enough to be heard over the music, probably to dispel the tension. She turned to me then. “And this is...Ren?”   
I nodded.   
“Yeah, Ren, member of team JNPR.”   
Coco raised an eyebrow. ”Pyrrha Nikos is also part of that team, isn't she?”   
“Yes.”  
She smirked at me. “You are not one for words, aren't you?”   
“Yes.”   
“Well, whatever. I'll finish introductions. I am Coco Adel, a second year and team leader of CVFY. Irika here is my sweet little cousin.”  
“Oh stop it, Coco.”   
“Now that introductions are over”, Yang pointed with her thump at the bar, “let's grab some drinks.”   
“Good idea.” Coco stood up taking a black handbag with gold highlights with her.  
“We are good”, Anthony said pointing to him and his girlfriend.   
I stood up and followed them, but took another short glance at the place where Coco's handbag was laying previously, just as another stream of light bathed us in ultramarine illumination: I saw a deep, squarish indentation on the sofa.  
An umbrella, a riding crop and now a lady handbag? Compared to Vacuo with their utilitarian approach to weapons, this seemed quite frivolous. But as someone who knew the worth of concealed arms, I almost admired the way these women basically hid their weapons in plain sight. On the other hand, a handbag seemed kind of unwieldy.  
Yang ordered a Strawberry Sunrise, Coco a Cyanider and I went with a simple Gin Fizz.   
“If memory serves me right, you and Irika were in the same class.”  
Yang smiled. “Yeah, we were the heartbreaking duo at Signal. Irika provided the cuteness appeal and I went with the sex appeal.” Her voice took in a distinct note of fondness. “Of course, she had to settle down with a guy and break up our invincible combination, that traitor.”  
Coco broke out in pearls of laughter. “You treat heartbreaking as if it's some kind of sport. I pity all the guys, who flocked to you two and got burned in the process.  
Yang's grin turned predatory. “Who said it was only guys?”  
Coco tilted her head in acknowledgment. “Point.”   
“So, which combat school did you attend, Coco?”   
“None, I was privately tutored.”   
“And you made it directly into Beacon? Your tutors must be pretty good.”   
“They are some of the best money could buy. Just ask your team mate. I think Weiss Schnee also has some experience when it comes to private tutors.”   
Yang snorted. “I just bet. But you are awfully well informed about us first years.”   
“Just the outstanding ones.” She turned and looked us both in the eye. “ Make no mistake, but your two teams are pretty much the talk of the school right now, up to the forth year students.”   
I sighed inwardly. So much about low exposure.   
When the bartender brought the drinks he also slipped us some small plastic packets. “On the house, as always.” He grinned winningly at the young women, before turning back to take further orders.  
Yang and Coco broke their packets with well-practiced ease. They took the white pill inside and swallowed before taking a sip from their drinks.   
I stared at them, broke my own packet and took out the pill. Pearly white and the form was certainly familiar. “Is that Soma?”   
“Well, yeah”, Coco drawled. “Never had any?”   
“I was just surprised they give it out for free. You have to pay for the stuff in Vacuo.”   
“Seriously?” Yang raised both eyebrows in surprise. “And what about unhappy people?”   
I shrugged. “They have to deal with it, I guess.”   
The blonde frowned. “That's pretty risky, if this unhappiness festers, it could draw in the Grimm.”   
“It's not like the Vale government forces people to take the pills as opposed to Atlas.” Coco intervened. “People here are free to be unhappy. Most simply choose not to. Besides, Soma is merely a stop-gap measure. It does not remove the root cause for people's unhappiness.“   
Yang nodded. “That's true. But solving the deeper problems behind people's unhappiness usually takes time.” Her expression darkened. “If it's possible at all. And I still don't understand why you have to pay for Soma in Vacuo. The Vale government basically takes it upon themselves to distribute the stuff.”   
“And subsidizing a pharmacoactive product like Soma costs money.” Coco said. “Money that the Vacuo government lacks, I guess.”   
I nodded. “Vacuo has to import the pills at a steep price. Due to the place being mostly desert, cultivating the raw material for Soma is not an option.”   
Our conversation died down as each of us nursed our drinks.   
“Okay, that topic was definitely depressive.” Yang's voice had a perked up quality she previously lacked. Probably the Soma taking effect. “Lets get back to Irika and Anthony.”

"Thank you." I dismounted from the vibrating monstrosity, glad to feel the contact between my feet and solid ground.  
"Don't mention it. The night was fun."  
I gave a non-committal nod.   
She eyed the entrance to Junior's bar. Then she focused her lilac eyes at me. "But I get the feeling that you did not ask me to show you around Vale to have fun."  
"Because I refuse to enhance the experience with powdered drugs?"  
"No. You can have good fun without them, but... I don't know. Call it a gut feeling, but the way you became part of the crowd - dancing, drinking, talking up the people, when doing that, you somehow slip away. The way you mix and fit in, its too smooth, too unobtrusive. You somehow become invisible among people."  
Quite a sharp woman. "You still seem to have caught my presence."  
"Because I have special training. And we kinda know each other already." She frowned. "You are dangerous."  
"Everybody who made it into Beacon is dangerous."  
"Maybe, but something about you is different. Ruby is not an easy opponent to beat." She echoed my own words right back at me. "From what I have seen today she has vastly improved the last time I saw her go all out. And as Goodwitch and Nora said, you were clearly outmatched." She shook her head. "No forget I said anything. Ruby seems to like you well enough and she can always use some more friends."  
"It sounds like you are merely tolerating me as an option to broaden your sister's social prospects."  
Yang's frown deepened. "That's a fancy way to say that I am using you."  
"Nothing to be ashamed about. I also used you today. You just happen to call it 'friends helping each other out'."  
Her gaze was starting to become menacing. "Very cynical, Silent one. So, your understanding of people using each other, does that include Nora?"  
"She is different", I shot. Then I paused. "She is... family."  
Her expression softened considerably. "Then you know what I feel when it comes to Ruby."  
"You are not blood related. At least not fully."  
She grinned wolfishly. "Is it that obvious? We are half-sisters. Besides, Nora and you do not exactly look like siblings either."  
"We are orphaned." A very loaded phrase rife with implications.  
"I see. I am sorry."  
"Don't be. We manage. Besides, the loss of a parent is something you are familiar with."  
"How..." the blonde brawler eyed me suspiciously.  
"My remark about you mothering your sister. Your reaction was telling enough. You probably lost one of your mothers, so I guess both of you have different ones?"  
"You figure out things quickly, Silent one, but you are not completely right. Ruby lost one mother. I lost two."  
I let the words sink in. “I see.”   
“You are still pretty good with your observations.”  
“I merely put two and two together.”   
“Is that supposed to make me underestimate you?”   
I shrugged. "Perhaps."  
She scowled before her face took on a more neutral expression. "Rubes told me that Ozpin stuck you together with her to help each other 'develop your fighting styles'".  
Words were traveling fast. "We are to help each other acquire the right frame of mind. There is more to fighting than just the physical aspects."  
"Really? Are you gonna spout something about mind over body or crap like that? My dad is an experienced Huntsman and he taught me that thinking in the middle of a fight gets you killed."  
I nodded. "True. The secret is to think without thinking."  
Yang scoffed. "That doesn't make a lick of sense."  
Memories of old resurfaced. My master once told me the same koan and I was as clueless as Yang was now. "It does."  
"Right", she said with skepticism pouring out of her voice. "Well, do whatever that headmaster tells you to." Then she grinned again, but calling it wolfish would be the same as calling the open maw of an Ursa major inches from your face slightly menacing. "But as I said, becoming friends is okay, just don't give my sister ideas about boyfriends and stuff. Breaking all the bones in your body would be the least of your troubles."  
I could not help but looking amused. "Are you going to extend the same warning to Jaune? He gets along a lot better with her."  
"Vomit boy? Nah, he is too spineless to try anything. Besides, I suspect he fancies Weiss."  
And here I was, standing in the middle of an industrial complex, planning to strike a deal with an top information broker of Vale's criminal underground and gossiping about my team mate's dating prospects with a boisterous blonde. Hell truly had frozen over.  
"See you." I turned to Junior's bar and began to walk towards the establishment.  
“Need a lift back?", Yang called.  
"No. My business will take a while. I will return to Beacon next morning." I glanced back at her. "Have a good night, Yang Xiaolong."

Entering Junior's club felt like stepping into a world of bright monochrome. The dominant colors were black, white and the occasional splotch of red. Kind of morbid, to run the Grimm color scheme in a dancing club. I thought back to the interior of the other places I visited tonight and had to admit: There was a pattern. The people here in Vale seemed to appreciate a more contemplative style, be it buildings, clothing, even the advertisement. Less garish and bright, less 'in-the-face' than what I was used to in Vacuo, far more subdued. So why not allow for colors that reminded people of the biggest menace to mankind, the number one reason for the high mortality rate in this world? For the reach of death was all-encompassing, even inside this temple of carnal stimulation and escapism.   
Memento mori. I liked it.   
Looking at the sea of bodies that were swaying to the echoing pulse of the bass, I noticed the regulars and employees mostly adhered to the color scheme. The amount of security was high - men in black suits, red ties and blood tinged sunglasses patrolled every corner of the hall and its entrance points. As I took in their movements from the corner of my eye, I realized that their patrolling pattern centered around a pair of young women who very much acted as control towers.  
The subtle flare of their qi shone through the mass of party animals, tickling my senses which laid outside the traditional ones. I focused my gaze on their lovely figures, before I let it wander upwards - modest breasts, slim necks covered in fur, raven hair, straight, glossy and lustrous, pale skin that was almost white, eye shadow color-coordinated with their dresses and most surprisingly, a pair of identical faces.  
Their costumes - they were too attention grabbing and unconventional to be called otherwise – shared many similarities and evoked the image of a pair of peacocks, but while peacocks were peaceful animals this pair of twins most definitely were not. No matter how pretty their plumage, it was incapable of hiding the sharp claws lurking beneath.  
I could not detect any weapons yet, but that was not much of a reassurance. Even the seemingly harmless accessories they wore could very well contain something hurtful and lethal.  
I stared at them a smidgen too long, for they became alert to my scrutinizing gaze. I saw the one in white frown and the one in red gave me – interestingly enough - a wink. I also saw both of them moving their hands in simple patterns. It was far less complex than sign language, but as a tool for group coordination it obviously sufficed as I saw myself being cordoned by the bodyguards.  
Seems like Yang's rampage left them security conscious. Not that I blame them.  
I moved leisurely towards the bar, braving my way through the dancing crowd, shielding my mind from the ecstasy of sweating bodies, glittering accessories, the stroboscopic shine of circling disco lights intermingled with squirming, moving flesh and the smell of alcohol, nicotine and powdered drugs.  
I took a deep breath, tasting the stale air and its contaminants. Siatix, HGY, Jive and of course the ever-present Soma. Seems like the regulars frequenting this place belonged to the financially well-situated part of Vale's social strata. This kind of drug mixture was something I only ever encountered in Vacuo's most high-end dance clubs.  
I finally made a breakthrough, leaving the crowd behind and going for the nearest unoccupied bar stool. The bodyguards were still being wary of me, but they kept their hands off their weapons. A good sign.  
"A Limescape please, with extra grenadine syrup, less apple spirit and crushed instead of center ice." The bartender nodded curtly and immediately went to work. I turned my head slightly and made a sweep out of the corner of my eye: The bodyguards were still on alert and the twin peacock sisters were closing in on me. Their stride was, well, distracting. It was the walk of seductive predators, confident in their looks and the effect they had on their surrounding. I turned back to the counter, careful not to appear hurried, and saw the bartender serving me the cocktail.  
"That's seventy Lien."  
I needed to act quickly. "I will give you hundred, if you tell me the favorite drinks of the two ladies approaching me."  
The young man who had mixed up my cocktail smirked. "This kind of information is worth much, much more."  
I looked at him and only now did I notice the green tinged monocle atop his nose, different from all the other male employees in the club. He wore a black waistcoat like me, but his shirt was a lighter shade of black with gold pinstripes. His hair was heavily spiked and stood up equally in all directions. The color was a dark brown that could pass for black if the illumination was just right. His face had a hawk-like quality despite his nose being stubby and his one visible eye - I looked into it and felt myself being sucked in. The iris was an electric blue with bronze speckles, but the truly unnatural part was the pupil: Vertically slitted and completely unreflective, a window to a microscopic black hole.  
And then, I finally felt the sliver of qi, dancing around his body hinting at the vortex below.  
I found myself to be the frog parading before the snake. I did not even took notice of him when he was mixing up my drink.  
If he wanted, he could have killed me during my slip in perception.  
The twins flanked me from both sides. They were barely more than one meter apart and only now did I finally saw their weaponry: The white one wore heel blades and the red one gloves with retractable knives.  
So the hidden claws were to be taken literally. There had to be an inside joke somewhere.  
"Hello ladies", the bartender greeted smoothly. "This gentlemen here just asked me for your favourite drinks."  
Both of them raised their eyebrows in perfect synchronicity, but while the white rose gave me a mocking, if slightly amused smirk, the red rose granted me a warm smile. Contradictory signals all around, for their weapons were still readied, so I was obviously not outside the danger zone.  
"But outright telling him would be boring", the bartender continued, "so let's make a bet. You, my friend, try to guess their preferences. You get three tries. If you are right on both counts, we will let you be and you get the opportunity to flirt with the two most capable and lovely guards in this club..."  
The white one started to glare at him, but he just waved her off. "Oh, don't start Melanie. You are as interested as Militiades. At least your sister is honest with her attraction."  
I summoned every sliver of mental fortitude to calm body and mind. I was not completely successful, but when I finally spoke, my voice sounded steady:  
"And what if I get it wrong?"  
"We will interrogate you thoroughly – in the backroom. Preferably with the help of sharp implements. You waltz into the club and the first thing you do is to check out security, entrance-exit points and these pretty control towers. Oh, there is also the fact that you possess quite a respectable amount of Aura. There was an incident about three weeks ago and we would rather not rebuild the place again." His smirk turned ferocious. It reminded me of a shark. "Nothing personal."  
Nothing personal. Right. He was oozing killing intent. Probably did it to psych me out.  
I pictured a crystal clear stream and the aroma of roasted green tea. I focused my consciousness to cling to these associations and already, my mind became clearer. More focused.   
Despite the bartender's bet, I was sure he planned to interrogate me no matter whether I fulfilled his ridiculous request or not. Still, given his remarks I suspected that he was ultimately responsible for the guards in the club reacting as fast as they did. While I was not consciously suppressing my qi, I was very much in the habit of not flaring it around like a signal fire and so far, the qi-sensing abilities of the inhabitants on Remnant did not impress me much.   
The man in front of me did not look like Junior, but he seemed to occupy a similar position of authority within the club. Adding his superior skill in concealing his qi and probably qi-sensing and I was left with few valid conclusions to his true identity.   
All the preparatory information I dug up on Hei Xiong to win him over as an intermediary – wasted. Instead, I was sitting face to face with the enigmatic man behind the man, the person I wanted to speak to in the first place.   
I glanced at the pretty guards flanking me and sighed mentally. I could simply spit out the pass-phrase and move the whole conversation to the next level, but the twins were really, really alluring. I felt myself looking forward to the challenge the bartender posed and if he was true to his word, flirting with these black-haired beauties would be a nice change of pace and perhaps even a hidden opportunity. After all, it had been quite some time since I last made love to a woman.   
I looked to my left, taking in the whole of Militiades, body language, dress, her scent and the expression as our eyes met, the curve of her lips, the little tells in her eye-reflexion. I committed her name to memory and every scrap of her bodily appearance that might help me differentiate between her and her sister if they were not wearing such an obvious get-up. It was often a good way to earn the favor of identical twins by learning to tell them apart as fast as possible.  
Then I looked to my right and again, I strained my senses to their maximum as I perceived Melanie in her totality. Flashes and pictures, words and logical chains that slithered on the edge of consciousness, all I did was being aware not to focus on them, only to let them flow.  
To think without thinking. An ability not restricted to the domain of martial arts. The capabilities of the human mind were vast and inconceivable as long as one knew how to utilize it.  
As the answers popped into awareness, I did not waste any time to mull on their veracity.  
"A bloody Sundrive with extra mint for the lady in red and a milky desert-lily for the lady in white."   
I saw both of their eyes widen in surprise, though Melanie's body language immediately became defensive.  
“Milky desert-lily is not my favourite drink.”  
“I am aware. Your favourite is the Albedo, but right now both of you are on the job and considering both of you take your duty serious, that means no alcohol. Take the cactus-spirit out of the Albedo, replace the white grape juice with ripened splashberry extract and you get the milky desert-lily. If you were to drink a non-alcoholic beverage when on the job, it should be this one.”   
The bartender laughed. “He nailed your choice, Melanie. It's what you drank the last three times I was here.”   
“How did you guess?”, asked Militiades.  
I put up my most sincere expression. “Perhaps I am a mind reader. Or a seer.”   
“A mind reader? A seer?” Melanie interjected, her voice a mixture of incredulity and bemusement. “Now, that sounds like a rare gift.”   
So she was sufficiently intrigued to play along with my obvious ruse.   
“Is that perhaps your Semblance?”, Militiades asked.   
“Perhaps”, I reacted while wondering furiously if the woman was serious. I knew painfully little about Semblances, but if she earnestly thought that they could manifest as something as ridiculous as mind reading, then this whole concept the Huntsmen on Remnant took for granted sounded pretty much like magic to me. “I could read your fortunes.”   
The twins moved closer to me, close enough that their different perfumes intersected to become a single fragrance. Sandalwood and jasmine with only a hint of honeyed sweetness mixed in. I abhorred heavy perfumes that bludgeoned one with their aroma, but the smell surrounding me right now was positively intoxicating.   
No reason to lose my head.   
“Show us”, the twins chorused, their voices laced with silent promises. “Your fortune telling.”   
“Please give me your hands.”  
Delicate hands encased in shimmering red and green tinged white stretched themselves out to me. “Ladies, I must ask you to remove your gloves. I need to see the lines.”   
“Are you going to tell us our time of death?”, Melanie asked.  
“Or our prospects of finding true love?”, Militiades added.   
“Whatever fate has in store for you, it is all written on your palms.”  
They took off their gloves with painfully aesthetic slowness. The incessant rustling tickled my anticipation as I watched crisp, silk-like fabric slid down to reveal even more unblemished skin. Their movements perfectly mirrored each other.   
I would call that a preview to the kind of foreplay these twins were capable of.  
No reason to lose my head. Business before pleasure.  
I took their now exposed hands, while rattling down some generic lines of fortune I cobbled together from memory. I gave a silent thanks to Nora for her habit of laying her girly magazines strewn around her room and waiting for me to clean up after her. Who would have thought that I would one day feel lucky to knew about horoscopes?   
At this point of the seduction game, what I was talking about did not matter much. I modulated my voice, kept eye contact and applied subtle pressurewhile holding their hands.   
When I finished my so called fortune telling, predicting success, money and excitement coupled with danger for life and limb if they were not careful, both women leaned towards me and whispered, making their lips move as if they were about to kiss me.  
“You free tonight?”   
They certainly knew how to corner a man.   
Good thing that I was something of an escape artist.   
“After I have a talk with your boss.” I teared my attention away from the twins, transformed my whole demeanor into a mask of indifference. Then I turned to the bartender. “We have business to discuss.”   
Just like that and the spell of intimacy and sexual tension evaporated like mist. I felt the two girls' discomfited stares boring into my sides, but I also sensed their curiosity that made them stay despite my sudden snub.   
The bartender gave me a queer look. “Now that is quite a turnabout. It has been some time since the last guy took a stab at seducing these two. And he performed not nearly as smoothly as you did, but your finisher needs some serious work.”  
“You are Hei Lang 'Senior' right?”  
The man's eyes turned sharp in an instant. “There are not a lot of people who are aware of this moniker. Did someone sent you?”   
“The golden dragon lost its fifth claw battling the spawn of Yama.”   
For the first time I saw him lose his composure. Up until now he was in total control of his body language, giving away nothing but what he wanted me to see. He recovered fast though, returning to his carefully crafted veneer of coolness and slightly disdainful amusement.   
“The saints cried rivers of azure, for the heaven's decree was lost.” He answered.   
I gave him a confident smirk. “I believe we have business to discuss”.   
Senior's words were spoken in a deadly calm voice. “Yes, I believe we do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **World of Remnant addendum 3: Soma**
> 
> _The Kingdoms always had a fairly ambivalent relationship to mind-altering drugs. In the old days, when humanity was still scrambling with sticks and stones, barely controlling the few pieces of Nature's Wrath, drugs were used mostly as stimulants and to reach a higher state of mind. Force marches over thousands of kilometers to evade Grimm hordes were often only endured through copious use of kaspes nuts, the raw material for a drug that will become Siatix in the future._   
> _Singulo leaves were used to broaden the perceptive state of the mind, mostly used by spiritual people back in the days though there are shamans in certain Faunus tribes who are using such even today._   
> _When human civilization advanced though, and with it the emergence of cities and nations, the usage of drugs started to get frowned upon until they were outright banned by law. The risks and disadvantages were too severe to be ignored: Physical and psychological addiction, toxicity through overdose as well as the high costs of producing them followed by the health hazard that resulted in unscrupulous people cutting costs during production._  
>  _That state of affairs kept up until the discovery of Soma, the wonder drug. A substance that did not cause physical addiction, had low toxicity reducing health damage through overdose to a bare minimum. Its only effect was to elevate the consumer into a mental state of moderate bliss and happiness, moderate being the key word here, with steep diminishing returns lowering the incentive for overdose even further._  
>  _A true designer drug in the most literal sense of the word._  
>  _For the Kingdoms the emergence of Soma became a godsend. While their population grew, the expansion of land could not keep up with demand until it hit total standstill as permanent settlements outside the natural borders of the Kingdoms ended in disaster again and again . Unrest and unemployment grew as nations were bursting at their seams. When the Council introduced the citizen tiers to finally put a hold on population growth, there was much resentment. As such, the governments of all nations except Vacuo took the production and distribution of Soma into their own hands, using it as the ultimate pacifier._
> 
> _The Mysterious Narrator_


	10. Contract

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Through the eyes of an assassin - a RWBY fanfiction
> 
> A/N: This chapter provides answers and lots of information. As such it is bound to be exposition heavy. I tried my best to make the exposition interesting. Hopefully, I succeeded.

My hand caressed the small card Melanie gave me when I left Junior's bar with the big boss. It contained a number written with lipstick. Invitations couldn't get more blatant than that. In the end, my little gambit paid off. Despite my snub at the end of the seduction game, shaking Senior's perfect calm and revealing myself to be a business partner who took priority seemed to have impressed the hard nosed White Rose. The Red Rose on the other hand, her expression turned unreadable.

The silent promises of rustling silk and porcelain flesh were not on the forefront of my mind. I felt a certain morbid fascination instead as I followed Senior - or whatever his true name might be - to the backroom and from there to another underground garage. I mentally went through the weapons I carried with me: Two flash dust grenades, my trusty jian disguised as a belt, the thin chain that doubled as a garrote and an array of poisoned needles hidden in my left sleeve. When we reached a sleek car, a two-seater with ergonomic curves, we paused at the same time. The distance between us was a mere two meters. While we were both suppressing our killing intent I had enough experience to perceive the small cues in his body language.

Both of us were ready to come to blows at the merest provocation. Only one of us would walk away alive. I was not sure I would bet on myself to be the one left standing.

"You should relax, kid", Senior drawled. "With that referral you gave me I have no reason to act hostile towards you. Right now, I am not even sure who exactly you are."

"Which is why you have been gathering your killing intent."

"You know about throwing stones in glasshouses?"

"Just answer one question."

The man raised a mocking eyebrow, but tilted his head in an inviting fashion.

"What is your exact relation with Fengchu?"

"We are business partners. You coming in front of my doorstep knocking with that passphrase implies you want the same." He smirked. "Now let's play tit for tat. I answered one question of yours. Now, you answer one of mine: Who exactly are you?"

"The same as Fengchu."

He looked me deep in the eyes. "I am not seeing it. The likes of Fengchu have certain distinct characteristics."

"We do. " I removed one of my contact lenses, while my other hand rested on the clasp of my belt.

"Clever." He paused for a few seconds, before breaking out in laughter. He did not leave himself open in his mirth though. "So that's who you are, the infamous 'Poisoned Hands'."

I focused my qi ready to unleash a heavy fajin strike followed by a combination of sword slashes.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you", and just like that my body locked down. The circulation of qi dried up in an instant. My limbs felt like they were made of lead. Panic rushed me like molten lava. I fought it down with sheer brute force of will, calming my breath which started to become shallow. All my abilities of neijiagong - useless. Unknown mode of disabling made by target. Only option: Running fight to disengage. Primary weapon to use: Flash bangs...

Senior spread his hands. "I am not going to attack you. A token of my goodwill."

As seconds passed without the proverbial hammer falling down, I started to calm myself. I carefully circulated my blood enriching my body with qi again.

Senior whistled. "You are already shaking off the effects. Impressive."

"I am surprised the Organization never included you in one of their kill teams. They could've gotten rid of me long ago."

"I will tell you that much: The ability I used on you doesn't work well in an ambush which seems to be your favourite method when dealing with superior numbers."

I had to grudgingly agree. Risking the knowledge and know-how of a Hermit on a dangerous manhunt was not something the grandmasters would willingly do. Still, this particular individual was even more dangerous than I originally assumed. Even now, I had not the slightest clue how he managed to temporary close off my qi-circulation.

I clamped down on my doubts. "You said tit for tat. Then it's my turn to ask: Why do you defy the organization by letting Fengchu and me do as we please?"

"Who said I am defying the Organization? I am a Hermit. I have only one task to fulfill. As long as you do not endanger it, I have no reason to be hostile. Seriously, the mission I am saddled with is impossible enough as it is. Instead of piling even more complications on my plate like trying to hunt down an elevated child like you, I would rather cooperate to further my task."

"This is a very loose interpretation of your mission parameters."

Senior smirked. "Then you will be surprised to find out the organization does not crack down on the likes of me... much."

I sighed. "I have only heard rumors considering I belonged to another cell, but isn't this too much freedom?"

"It works. And seems to have worked for centuries. My turn: Did you betray the Organization, because you are unwilling to follow our stated creeds?"

I glared at him. "No."

We stared silently at each other as we slowly curbed down our killing intent.

"In that case", Senior said, "I have no problems working with you." He opened both doors to his sports car with a remote. "I am willing to talk business and a garage is really not a suitable place to do so. Are you willing?"

I hesitated, but only for a second. "Yes."

His voice cracked down on me. "Without the two of us trying to murder each other?"

I had to hold myself back from flinching. "Yes."

He smirked that annoying smirk of his. "Then hop in."

 

 

The drive was short. Our destination turned out to be a gambling den. At least, that was my first thought when I entered the establishment. But when I took a second look, I felt doubt creeping up inside of me. The tell-tale signs of gambling could be seen everywhere: People staring at their playing cards with anticipation, money changing hands as if it was on fire and an almost palpable tension suffusing the air. Still, none of the dens for betting money – neither the ones I saw in Vacuo nor the ones I had encountered in Haven – quite matched the quality of this particular place.

The location was glamorous. There was a rich carpet of crimson covering the floor. The tables were made of heavy redwood with stylized carvings of leaves and flowers. The surface of the expensive material was impregnated with a gleaming polish. Attendants could be seen darting around the place carrying beverages and deodorant wipes. Dealers were all over the place, handling colorful chips made of plastic, operating contraptions I had never seen before or mesmerizing players with virtuosic displays of card shuffling.

Gambling dens nesting in the bowels of Haven's black market were notorious for sumptuous decor and their overly indulgent customers, but they were places of chaos, spontaneity, unpredictability. This place seemed almost orderly in comparison. There was an industrial, even fabricated feel mixed in with bustling - sometimes explosive - activity.

Perhaps it was the abundance of gambling automatons located on the lower floor of the building - a money betting complex running on its own. Or perhaps it was the fact that all employees, men and women, wore the same clothing - black elegant trousers, white long sleeved business shirt, a wine red waistcoat made of shimmering satin.

As I followed Senior while noting countless people paying their respects I finally realized the peculiarity of the atmosphere: I was looking at directed chaos.

I was bearing witness to a true paradox.

We finally sat down at a table located in the far corner of the place. A group of men in black suits walked up, but Senior stopped them with a single raised hand. A few cues later and the bodyguards were forming a small perimeter around our table.

I watched how some people stopped in their tracks as the black suited men made their blockade around us. It did not take a genius to identify them as typical sycophants.

Senior poured himself some warm sake before offering me the same. I nodded to let him play the polite host. Crystalline liquid flowed out and the characteristic scent of alcohol filled my nostrils. We both raised our cups in silent acknowledgment while still eyeing each other warily before downing the content.

"I am surprised you took the drink", Senior started.

"I consider the risk to be minuscule. You may own this place, but poisoning me in public is more trouble than it's worth. Besides you drank it, too."

"I could have taken an antidote beforehand."

"A poison that is colorless, scentless, tasteless and can be counteracted by a preventive antidote?" I leaned back in my chair. "I am something of a poisoneer myself and substances that convenient are so rare they could as well be non-existent."

Senior chuckled. "Well, it's good to see you maintain your perspective. Dealing with overly paranoid customers can be so tiresome."

"It's not paranoia if they are out to get you."

He inclined his head. "You certainly did not choose an easy life."

I stretched the silence for a few uncomfortable seconds before I took up the conversation again: "You spoke about an impossible mission." I let my eyes wander for emphasis. "But I seriously doubt the grandmasters send you down here to Remnant to introduce gambling culture from the old world."

Senior smirked. "So you noticed. I am impressed your studies about the old world even included something as frivolous as that."

I shrugged. "I don't recognize a single game here, but it is unlike any gambling den I have encountered on Remnant before."

Senior chuckled again. "Gambling den? What a cute expression. This is what's called a casino."

"You are evading my question."

"I do not recall you asking me one."

I sighed. "What kind of technological uplift are you required to perform? You wish for my cooperation meaning you probably have need of my skills." I put a hint of steel into my voice. "I wish to know the direction my skills are going to be used on before I agree to anything."

"Thermonuclear energy plant technology."

My mind went blank for moment. "Are you serious?" I spluttered.

Senior's smirk turned vicious again. "I did call it an impossible mission, didn't I?"

"This can't be right."

"Now you are losing me."

"The elders would never part with this technology. It's too potent, too..." I struggled to find words, "game changing. If Remnant's civilization were to master it, once the Forgotten Kingdom reveals itself, we could hardly negotiate from a position of strength. And that's not even counting the potential devastation of misusing atomic bombs."

Senior laughed. "So that's what you are concerned about? Let me put your worries to rest: The applications I am supposed to introduce are solely on the civilian side. There is no danger of Remnant's scientists figuring out how to build nuclear weapons from just that."

I glared. "Studying the history of science of the old world is required for anyone in my former position. And if that history taught me one thing it's that every major technology can be turned to military use."

Senior sighed. "For god's sake, do I seriously need to give you a freaking lecture?"

"You probably need to. If your mission is indeed as you claim then I am having serious doubts about the sanity of the Grandmasters."

"Aren't you a rebellious one?" He raised a hand. "It's okay. I will indulge you. It's not like I get a lot of opportunities to talk about my true specialty with your average Vale citizen."

He paused for a moment. "Let me preface by saying that on Remnant knowledge about nuclear physics is pretty much shit. Even for their brightest scientists, radioactivity could as well be magical death rays. They don't even have a Geiger-Müller counter. As such, me hypothetically introducing nuclear fusion technology would be an extremely rapid and unnatural leap of innovation, even compared to other technological uplifts the Organization has injected over the centuries."

"And?"

"The first widely used technology based on the inner workings of the atom had the phenomenon of nuclear fissure as its basis. As you hopefully know, the energy yield in nuclear fissure is greater the bigger the size of the atom while in nuclear fusion the exact opposite is the case. The first scientists to truly venture into experimental nuclear research relied on the existence of naturally occurring radioactive elements which are for the most part heavy materials like uranium, polonium or radium."

I nodded. "Which is the reason nuclear fissure technology came first, and the bombs based around it ."

"Exactly. Therefore it is practically impossible – no matter the time - for scientists on Remnant to ever develop widely functional nuclear technology on their own."

I thought a moment before answering. "You are telling me that the old world already used up all the naturally occurring radioactive elements?"

"More or less. Elements like polonium or radium were extremely rare even back in the days. For purposes of experimental research small samples were sufficient to iron out theories, but implementing them on an industrial scale required bigger reserves."

I sighed. "I know at least that much. Uranium right?"

"There is only one significant Uranium deposit left on Remnant. It's located on the continent of Draconis. I guess you know the rumors?"

I nodded. The continent of Draconis which was conveniently shaped like a dragon was basically a Grimm-infested hellhole. Given the near 100 percent ratio of operatives who went MIA there, even the best combat teams of the Organization stayed clear of the place and so far, elite Huntsman did not fare much better. As long as the Grimm matter stayed unresolved that deposit would remain untouched.

"I can see where you are coming from. I am still not entirely convinced though. Remnant's scientists are far from stupid. What's preventing them to go straight for a fusion bomb? If I remember right, they are even more destructive. Hydrogen as fusion material is much easier to obtain and available in abundance."

Senior poured himself another cup of sake. He then shook his head in mock disappointment before draining the alcohol. "Shows what you know. First of all, using pure hydrogen as fusion material is extremely impractical. On the level of particle kinetics you would need to have four hydrogen atoms collide at the same time to reach the next stable element on the periodic table. They also have to travel with sufficient speed to overcome the natural repelling force between atoms which translates to over 100 million kelvin in temperature. To be honest, the temperature is needed anyway, but in practical terms you use hydrogen isotopes instead. That way, only two particles need to collide for a successful fusion reaction. It's simple statistics leading to higher energy yields."

I glared at him. "Are you having fun being a smart-ass?"

He grinned. "As far as thermonuclear bombs are concerned, to effectively weaponize fusion reactions even higher temperatures are needed. Funnily enough the old world managed to produce the first successful fusion bomb about one century earlier than the first fusion plant with a positive energy yield. Can you guess why?"

I paused for few seconds to let the information swirl in my mind. "In an energy plant, the burn of the fusion fire needs to be steady and controlled. In case of a bomb, the higher temperature is probably merely a trigger, so an uncontrolled flash is sufficient..." I felt my mouth open, for I finally understood Senior's continued smugness. "They used a fissure bomb to initiate the fusion bomb?"

"Yes they did. The approach is almost brutish in its simpleness, but sometimes simple is best."

"I will verify everything you have told me."

Senior yawned. "Of course you will. Any further questions?"

"An academic one. The sun obtains its energy through nuclear fusion, but if I remember correctly the core temperature is only about 15 million kelvin. Shortly before, you mentioned that the required temperature for fusion reactions is actually over 100 million kelvin. Why the difference?"

"The answer to that question is simple: Pressure."

Gigantic forces of gravity due to much higher mass in comparison to our home planet, leading to gargantuan forces of pressure in the star's core. It was the same basic principle as a pressure cooker, only on an entirely different scale. This was an answer I could have figured out myself. "Thank you for indulging my curiosity." I inclined my head.

"No need. I encourage willingness to learn."

I let my eyes wander again, observing the countless gamblers. Some of them were still gawking in our direction, but most of them were trapped in their own little worlds. "We talked about some of the technical details, but I still don't understand all of this." I made a languid gesture across the hall.

"Money makes the world go round, and a casino is basically a money making system."

"The Grandmasters force you to finance the uplift yourself? That sounds unconventional."

"Again, you are not using your head. If I were to introduce fusion energy in a vacuum, the Organization could finance the whole thing without much trouble, or at least the initial cost. The main point making my mission so very troublesome is the fact that there is already an established player on Remnant's energy market."

And just like that I finally realized the sheer scope of Senior's task. Suddenly, him calling it an impossible mission almost sounded like an understatement.

"You are going to pick a fight with the Schnee Dust Company."

"I am still in the preparatory phase which has been running for about four years now. Building up my name as an information broker, constructing and popularizing this casino and getting the Vale council to subsidize further branches..." he raised both his hands in a mocking gesture to put on air quotes "...of these 'gambling dens'."

I frowned. "In my experience, organized gambling is usually claimed by criminal elements."

"The mafia bosses in Vale certainly tried to stake their claim, like carrion eaters going after a juicy cadaver. Luckily, as an information broker I had dirty laundry on almost everyone of note. I still needed some heavy handed blackmail to make them back off, but seriously, the amount of protection money they wanted was simply ridiculous. Instead of throwing part of my hard earned Lien into their insatiable throats I gave it to the city council."

"You bribed the Vale council?", I asked incredulously.

He rolled his eyes. "Nothing as uncouth as that. There is a gambling tax in Vale and Atlas. Of course given Vacuo and especially Haven's situation the governments there do not even bother to implement one. Still, even here in Vale the tax was for the longest time merely a formality being ignored by practically everyone - that is until I paid it in full like the upstanding citizen I am."

Seemed like smugness was this guys default attitude. "The criminal gangs didn't like that."

"Pissed off would be more appropriate. It's like I violated some kind of unspoken rule... which leads us to how you can help me out."

I inclined my head a fraction.

"The gangs are becoming increasingly uppity. Vandalism in front of the casino, robbing my winning customers just as they leave the establishment. Small, petty crimes, but they have been piling up. It's bad for business and the bosses continue to wash their hands off these little affairs. Spouting nonsense like not having full control over all their little grunts or crap like that."

"So?"

"I want you to intimidate the bosses. Show them that actions have consequences."

"Does your version of intimidation include assassinations?"

"No. Far too disruptive. The power flow coursing through Vale's criminal underworld exists in a stable flux right now. I wish to maintain it. I leave it to you how you go about the intimidation. You could certainly murder some of their valued confidants, but this kind of heavy handed approach usually leads to nasty repercussions. I want the top dogs scared, terrified if you are good, but I don't want them despairing or furious."

I nodded. "I can do that. But my help will cost you."

"State your price."

"I want 100,000 Lien for every task I fulfill. Considering the scope of your operation that should be small change. I also wish for some kind of warning if my own operational movements in Vale become uncomfortably close to agents of the Organization."

"The money is not an issue. I cannot warn you beforehand though, if I don't know where you are operating from."

"Beacon Academy. I am one of the newly minted Huntsman students."

For once, Senior was at a loss for words. It took him two unsuccessful attempts until he found his voice again. "I may have underestimated you. You are one crazy son of a bitch."

"So?"

He sighed. "Okay, okay, I will give you a heads up. If you start sending agents to nirvana while pretending to be a Beacon student...", he shook his head. "That kind of blow-up is something the Organization will avoid at all cost. Ozpin's stronghold is an absolute taboo zone."

Which was yet another reason I choose to attend Beacon. The organization spied and infiltrated the hell out of all the combat academies except Ozpin's school, mainly because the man rarely left the premises. That, and probably all the surveillance drones. The reason was classified up to the very top. There was actually a standing order dating back twenty years stating that no operative may even remain in proximity to the illusive headmaster. Now that I have met the man in person I had at least an inkling why these orders were in place.

"Furthermore, before I attended Beacon I was living in Vacuo, so I need a little introduction on who my targets exactly are."

Senior sighed. "For the love of... there is not nearly enough booze here for me to give out another freaking lecture."

 

 

It took Senior's underlings about five minutes to prepare the table. Now, instead of displaying the playing field of old world gambling games the holographic projector showed a detailed map of Vale Central City. Various photographs were strewn about and a heavy envelope laid at Senior's side as well as a large assortment of lollipops. It was the latter that took up my attention, as I watched with barely suppressed amusement how an Organization agent of almost frightful competence stuffed his mouth with kids sweets. He sensed me staring. "You want some?"

"Sure." I took the candy and looked at the wrapping. Pete's Pumpkin Pop. I turned right back to staring at him again.

"What?"

"I expected cigarettes or more alcohol."

Hei Lang sighed. "Please don't mention cigs. Half the reason I am eating this stuff is because I am trying to abstain from tobacco. But you know how it is with habits. I still get the craving of having something between my lips, so I use lollipops as a substitute."

"I fear I only understand on an intellectual level."

He leered at me. "Really? You telling me you don't have any vices at all? What the hell have you been doing here on Remnant the whole time. Live in a cloister?"

I unwrapped the lollipop and put it in my mouth. Moments later the pleasantly mild flavor of pumpkin tingled inside my gums. Sweets like that usually had a more artificial flavor, but this candy seemed to be made of real pumpkin extract. Not too sweet either to let the pumpkin aroma come to the fore. "Where can you buy this?"

"A small specialty shop on Bleue-de-Lune Street in the Helmslett District." He flicked his fingers and a red dot appeared on the city map. I memorized the place.

"Thank you."

"Their products are not exactly cheap, but you can probably afford it."

"Probably." I gestured to the table. "Back to the topic?"

"Right. The introductory course to organized crime in Vale." He adjusted his monocle. "There are three major groups in Vale who have more or less divided the city between themselves. The first thing to note is that you cannot fit their activity into neat little territories easily mapped and you certainly cannot draw any kind of hard lines or borders which help you delineate between them easily, so don't even bother."

"Let me guess, their business specialties is what sets them apart."

"You guessed right. The situation in Vacuo is similar?"

I nodded.

"Then let's head straight to the meat of the issue." He picked up one of the mugshots. The photograph showed a man in his late fifties with a balding head, a prominent double chin, wearing a smile so smug that Senior seemed humble in comparison.

"Dimitrio Rosso, boss of Rosso Trade and Logistics or RTL for short."

"Sounds like legitimate business."

"It actually is, for the most part. RTL have a heavy presence in the harbor district. Lately they even try to stretch their influence to the border regions of Vale trying to manipulate customs. Of course the Vale government is having none of it. An area they dominate though is delivery service for online CCT shopping."

"So smuggling."

"That's their game."

"Are they involved in human trafficking?"

"Depends on the kind. Transport service to smuggle illegal immigrants inside the borders? Sure. Human or faunus slave trade? None that I know of. I don't think they dare. Ozpin and the Huntsmen at his disposal would utterly crush them, consequences be damned."

That was good to hear. "What about weapon's smuggling?"

Senior nodded. "Very good point. Well, the only weapons worth smuggling are Atlas made, but Atlesians really hate it when their weapons land on the black market so they enforce extremely strict customs and tariffs. As such, RTL mostly acquires them through legal channels. There are times though when they employ their considerable financial assets to grab some prototype technology, usually when they are raring to go on another turf war with their competitors."

"So I can expect their muscle to have mil-spec weapons?"

"Pretty much. Assault rifles, grenades, bazookas, mini-guns, sniper rifles – the whole program, although it will be one or two generations behind the newest models."

"If I get into a crossfire I am still dead."

"Pretty much. They will also use hunter killer ammunition if the situation requires it."

"So they can fight off Huntsmen?"

"One or perhaps two. But a well coordinated four-member strike force would push them to the limit. Most of their members are thugs, not soldiers. Putting mil-spec weapons into their hands will not change that."

"I see. My task is to intimidate Mr Rosso personally?"

"Just so." Senior pulled out his scroll and tapped in some commands. Moments later, several red dots appeared on the holographic map. "Their headquarters is located in the harbor district. That's also where our good Mr Rosso stays most of the time. It's a pretty utilitarian building, half fortress, half warehouse."

I nodded. "I think I can handle the rest."

"Good." Hei Lang threw the photo on the table and grabbed the next one. It showed a man in his thirties, with well groomed black hair that reached his shoulders. He wore glasses, but instead of conferring a sophisticated air they turned his sharp gaze even more menacing. "This charming fellow here is a Mistralian, one Tsukayama Shiro. Officially he is a senior manager of Tobitsu Pharmaceutics or TP, adjunct to the CEO of TP's Vale branch. Unofficially he is one of the young rising stars of the Black Dragon Brotherhood."

I blanched. "Are you kidding me?" The Black Dragon Brotherhood was the undisputed ruler of Mistral's black market. Additionally, their methodology had lots of parallels to the Organization. Back in the day, me and my companions even speculated in jest whether the BDB was a secret cell of the Organization or a splinter group formed some centuries ago when an agent went rogue. We never found any evidence of such, but with me turning rogue myself the speculation we did back then seemed much less like a joke now.

Tobitsu Pharmaceutics was another big player. The biggest manufacturer of medicine in Remnant, basically the pharmaceutical version of the SDC.

"I pay you money because I expect you to work for it."

"So what? I am to intimidate a leading figure of the BDB?" I sighed. "Can I scare the CEO instead?"

"He is just a figurehead. Your misgiving is justified though. Tsukayama Shiro is a graduate of Haven Academy."

I glared. A bit of the killing intent I was reining in slipped out of my control. "Are you trying to get me murdered?"

Senior appeared completely unfazed. "Oh? Is a mere Huntsman turned manager beyond the skills of the infamous Poisoned Hands?"

I breathed in deeply to calm myself again. "If the infiltration turns into an open fight, I am toast."

Senior shrugged. "Then don't let it turn into an open fight." He smirked. "As I said. How you go about the task is completely up to you. Just don't assassinate him. The BDB is another group that we cannot afford an extensive struggle with."

"And what about their illegal business ventures, besides drugs of course?"

"The BDB partly uses the Tobitsu Pharmaceutics as a cover. As you correctly surmised, they produce outlawed substances on the side, but their main assets are illegal organ trade and real estate speculation."

I squeezed the bridge of my nose. "The organ trade overlaps with the pharmaceutics, but real estate? How is that even possible with the Citizen Tiers in place?

Senior smirked. "I won't go into operational details. If you want to know about that you need to pay me brokerage. I will say this much though: The Brotherhood of the Black Dragon know how to do subtle and they are making a killing."

Hei Lang tapped some commands into his scroll again. Another batch of dots in white appeared on the map though they were much smaller in number compared to Rosso's businesses.

I glared. "Am I the only one here who is concerned about the level of corruption in Vale?"

Senior unwrapped another lollipop. "If you ask me, it is inevitable. Since the end of the Great War, Vale enacted one resolution after another to force all kingdoms into mutual cooperation. The Huntsmen Academies were just the first step. The CCT system, multilateral trade agreements, academic exchange programs, the list goes on." His face became musing. "Now that I think about it, Beacon will be hosting this year's Vytal festival, another one of those measures to make everybody play nice with each other. "

"Your point?"

"Easy really. Before the Great War, the kingdoms were more or less isolated entities. The enforced peace treaty opened them to each others influence." He made a pause. "Positive and negative, good and bad, innovation and corruption. The moment the political borders were lifted the die was cast. The introduction of Dust propelled mechanization and automation years later only exacerbated the effect. Now that communications technology is also making leaps and bounds, the world is becoming smaller and smaller. It's nothing new really. The Old World called it globalization."

Our conversation fell into a lull after that. I digested Senior's words while seeing more keenly than ever the big gaps in my knowledge. The political side of history as well as economics were fields of studies I only had a rudimentary grasp on. It was less of an issue when I was working with my companions, for we all had a different focus and supported each other with our respective domains of knowledge. But I was on my own now - a rogue agent just trying to survive.

"I think my history teacher at Beacon would find your argument deeply fascinating."

Senior smirked. "Of course he would. From his perspective all of this is happening for the first time." He took the next photograph. "Crime boss number three. Feast your eyes."

True to his words, the mugshot showed a stunningly beautiful woman. Her age was not discernible from the photo alone, for her features had a timeless quality to them. Her hair was slightly curled and the color of deep auburn. Her pursed lips were directed straight at the camera as if she was going to kiss the one taking the shot.

"Are you sure she is a crime boss?" I was the very last person to discount the general danger of females. Considering my master, such an attitude was pretty much suicidal. But the ruby red lipstick she wore as well as the artfully applied mascara implied another kind of trade.

Senior rolled his eyes. "I am sure I know what you are thinking. You are not wrong. Aleina Evergreen is indeed a member of the oldest profession. She is also much, much more."

"She controls the prostitution business?"

"Not directly. You see, prostitution in Vale has kind of a unique standing. The business is actually in the hand of the sex workers themselves."

I stared at Senior for several seconds. I knew about the concept of workers banding together to assert better employment conditions, but this was just straight up weird.

"A sex workers' union?"

"So you are aware of the principle."

"Vacuo has a few. A miners' union, railroad workers' union, but..." I shook my head. "Now I have heard everything."

"They call themselves the Sisterhood of Pleasure. Cliched name if I've ever heard one." He shrugged. "First of all, their union is Council approved. All the prostitution conducted through the Sisterhood is considered strictly aboveboard."

"And where is the part when Ms Evergreen becomes a nasty crime boss?"

"Officially, she is the lifelong honorary chairwoman of the Sisterhood. She created it after all. In truth she runs her organization like the bastardized version of an intelligence agency."

I truly thought the tale could not become any weirder. How wrong I was. "She is your competition?"

"It would be more apt to say that I am _her_ competition. To be honest, I would be nothing compared to her without the backing and technological assets of the Organization. It took me until two months ago before I even realized that she is a major player in Vale's underworld."

"If she slipped your notice for so long, it means she does not rely on modern communications technology."

Senior grimaced. "Exactly. Well, you know the stereotype. Males become talkative in the bedroom. I have no hard facts when it comes to her methodology. I don't know if every prostitute in Vale is part of her spy network, I have no firm grasp on how she collects all the information, she is still too much of a cipher."

"Did you indulge in the pleasures of the Sisterhood?"

Senior glared. It was the first time this evening that I saw him lose his bearing without immediately recovering his mask. "You certainly know how to ask uncomfortable questions, kid."

"It's a talent", I deadpanned. "Your reaction is answer enough. I hope you were not too talkative."

"More than I am comfortable with. Nothing that would implicate the Organization." His voice sounded final, so I dropped the topic.

"You also want me to intimidate her? To be honest, she does not strike me as someone who would take overt actions against your gambling business."

"You would be surprised. Some of the thugs disturbing my business were hired by her. Probably."

I gestured to the map. "Where is her business located?"

Senior sighed and unwrapped another lollipop. "I have no clue." He tapped another command, followed by green dots. "These are the known brothels in Vale. You can start from there, but so far I haven't found anything suspicious." He pointed at a flashing dot. "That's her mansion in the Residential District. Find out what you can and give her a warning shot so to speak. But absolutely nothing overt."

"Why are you so sure she is truly a player?"

Senior's face froze. "Trade secret. But depending on the way she reacts to your infiltration, I may finally get some certainty in regards to her."

"Right." I went through the information in my head again. "Aren't you forgetting someone?"

Senior raised a single eyebrow. So he could do the trick, too. "Another crime boss who slipped my notice? Please enlighten me."

"Roman Torchwick."

Senior actually groaned. "Seriously? That attention whore? A crime boss?"

"The media calls him one."

"Proof that the news makers consider their audience to be morons. Seeing how the people lap up the reports about the 'gentleman thief' the news makers may have a point."

"So he is harmless?"

"Of course not." Senior steepled his fingers. "Torchwick is a wild card who does not follow any rules but his own. Ultimately though the amount of crime he commits is sharply limited, because he works alone." He paused. "Well mostly alone. He sometimes hires additional muscle and there is also his female attack dog, but in the grand scale of things the scope of his illegal activities is too small to be truly significant."

"What makes him dangerous?"

"He has a massive audience. He knows how to play to the crowd and the camera. I mean for god's sake the man wears stage make-up and mascara." He separated his hands. "Torchwick's actions have high symbolic value. Despite his shenanigans, he is also useful for the other crime bosses by eating up all the media air time. That way, the newshounds focus on the flash and neglect the systemic problems."

I nodded. Where there was a bright light, there was an equally big shadow to hide in. I used Jaune's idosyncrasies the same way to deflect attention from my fellow students.

"There is also the distinct possibility that he misuses all the attention to wreak untold havoc."

"By manipulating people's emotions."

Senior nodded.

I thought for a moment. "You mentioned a female attack dog."

Another grimace. "A small girl who fights with a parasol. Torchwick can already keep up with Huntsman though only low grade ones. The small girl is on another level entirely. She also fights to kill. I lost some of my men because of her."

What a surprise. The mysterious deaf-mute became relevant. "Are you sure she is closely associated with Torchwick?"

Senior turned suspicious in an instant. "You met her?"

"Tri-colored hair, relies on extreme levels of agility in her fighting style, wears high-heeled boots?"

He whistled. "You met her and you fought her. Given that you are still alive, I guess she is dead?"

"No."

Senior stared at me. Then he broke out in laughter. "Will wonders ever cease? You have to tell me about your fight against her. I am sure it's a tale worth sharing."

I smirked. "Gladly. But it will cost you."

His mirth faded immediately. "Kid, you do not seem to understand the way this business works. I mean, listening to your fight against her is certainly fascinating, but not really information worth any Lien."

"You already admitted you lost some men due to her. You also told me how Torchwick is a wild card. If you or any of the other crime bosses want him out of the picture, eliminating her is key." I spread my arms. "I can give you that key."

He sighed. "How much?"

"Fifty thousand. I will even throw in some bonus intelligence."

"Done. Now talk."

So I told Senior about the air raid, the close fight and even the White Fang. At the end of my tale, Senior had trouble keeping his face straight.

"This story is hard to swallow."

"Which part?"

"The White Fang part." He held up a hand. "I believe you. Your description of her fighting style is too accurate to be mere happenstance and now that you told me about her Semblance a lot of things suddenly make sense." He breathed in deeply. "You are absolutely, positively sure she was accompanied by White Fang?"

"Their emblem is quite memorable."

Senior swore. "So Torchwick wants to play in the big leagues now? Just what I needed. And how in hell did a human coax the White Fang into cooperating with him?"

"It could be a temporary arrangement."

"It could, but my gut tells me otherwise."

Never underestimate gut feeling. "So what now?"

Senior threw a heavy envelope to my side of the table. "Your payment. 100,000 Lien. Half is for the intelligence you gave me. The other half is advance payment for whatever task you want to complete first. Another 50,000 on completion of your first mission. After that, it's 100,000 Lien for every completed task."

"Any deadlines?"

"Yes. I want Rosso and Shiro cowed in the next two month. The limit is the 21st of May. There is no hard deadline when it comes to the Sisterhood, but the faster the better. I may even feel generous enough to throw in a bonus."

In other words, there will be an important event the day after the 21st. Probably negotiations. "Do you require proof?"

"There is no need. If you do your tasks as required, I will know."

Meaning he had his own people planted in Rosso Trade & Logistics as well as Tobitsu Pharmaceutical. I took the envelope.

Senior raised his hand. "There is one last thing."

"Yes?"

"When Fengchu schooled me on the passphrase she gave me a small task of her own. There is a message chip inside the envelope. The one carrying the passphrase should receive it. I think the people in your former cell call these kind of chips 'Red Orders'."

A shiver ran down my spine as I watched Senior put on another of his annoying smirks. "My obligations are hereby done, Poisoned Hands. Yours are just beginning."

 

 

I sat on the roof of a small warehouse fiddling with my scroll. Melanie and Militiades' shift was almost over. A brief swap of messages was suffcient to set the night date. The meeting with the twins will take place at the central plaza near the city council. There was still time though. Time I filled by staring at the message chip.

It seemed like Fengchu was finally collecting on all the support she gave me during the last two years. The data chip I held in my hands was heavily encrypted. A special software made sure that only the recipient's scroll could properly access the message the chip contained. Connecting it to any other scroll would result in the data being purged.

It was an appropriate security measure she took to make sure Senior as a third party would not be privy to the message she wanted to give me. I shook my head. I knew Fengchu. Every action she took contained a message by itself. Using this particular method to deliver whatever demand she had for me was very telling indeed.

I was stalling. This was unlike me. I plugged the chip to my handheld and started it.

The screen stayed blank but I heard the speakers activating. Seemed like the message was voice only.

_Hello Qinglong,_

_I sincerely hope you receive my message in good health. You listening to my voice means you have taken my suggestion to heart and contacted Senior. You can probably deduce the role I played in his mission, although the man probably did not mention my contributions with a single breath. He so loves his smug and invincible front. I hope you managed to put some cracks in his façade._

_You no doubt realize the nature of the task I am about to give you. I want to clarify though that you should absolutely not consider it to be an order. If you cannot condone it then by all means refuse. Accept it only of your own free will._

_Before I spell out your target though, I want to share some of my reasons for why I am taking action._

_The Grandmasters' decision to introduce thermonuclear technology is a decision I agree with wholeheartedly. Despite me turning rogue, I am still aware of some of the more troubling developments on Remnant. Chief amongst them is Dust consumption. Explaining the why behind the danger of continued global Dust usage would go beyond the scope of this message. I will say this: The people on Remnant need a nudge towards an alternative energy source. The faster it happens, the better the situation will be in the long run - for all of us._

_Therefore, the Schnee Dust Company needs to go down._

_Senior's mission is not the only one preparing Remnant's civilization to break free of their dependency on Dust. There are seven other missions I know of pursuing the same goal. With this message I want to add another measure that will make this painful transformation as swift as possible. I give the mission to you knowing full well the risk it involves, but I am confident you can perform the task without implicating yourself._

_I want you to assassinate Weiss Schnee._


End file.
